A Ventrue and a Gangrel
by Comrade Athelwine
Summary: This is the story about an Unusual friendship that end up becoming more than friends for each other.. About A Ventrue that does not exactly act like a Ventrue And a Gangrel that may not be as beast-like as the others: Ashley belongs to "Foreverhate"
1. Chapter 1

Darkness had fallen upon the streets of Los Angeles. It was the last hours of the night, and soon the sun would turn the streets over to the Humans. For now it was owned by Kindred. The humans knew not, but they were walking in the presence of predators. And they were the prey.

But unlike most of these predators, there were a few who did not go to safety just yet. One of them had just left a cap, paid the fare and now looked out upon the streets of Los Angeles, Santa Monica area. He was a young man. Only about 20… Ocean blue eyes and long golden hair that often went past his shoulders, but for practicality he had put it into a ponytail. His skin was as a gray-pale complexion and he seemed like he could drop to the ground any minute and sleep. He was wearing some worn out jeans and a nice shirt below a warming coat.

He slowly dragged himself along the sidewalk, His head dangling and his eyes half closed. He took a turn down a dark alleyway and leaned up the wall, placing his face into his palms.

"Why" he asked himself. Why did this happen to him?

He was no longer one of the living. He was one of the damned and the fallen. A Vampire, and not just any Vampire, a Ventrue. The most stuck up and snoopy of all the kindred, A Clan born to dominate the minds of "lesser beings".

"I have become the bourgeois of the undead… Why a bourgeois of all things!" he said slamming the back of his head into the wall behind him. It was painful as he had not learned to control his now stronger than human body. He gently rubbed the back of his head to mend the pain. He sighed greatly and rose to his feet again. He had to move on now. He was dead… He would never see the sun again, nor would he see his friends again, or his family.

He frowned and wanted to cry. He, who did not want to show feelings, wanted now to break down in human tears and weep himself to sleep. But he couldn't.

He clenched both of his fists and smashed one of them into a nearby trashcan, effectively creating a great hole in it, and creating a great bleeding wound on his hand. He bit his lower lip and looked upon his hand, the blood richly flooding from it. It only took a minute before the flow stopped and the wound had healed. The boy stared upon the blood on his hand. He could feel the new urges he had gotten, but shook his head. "I won't…." He said lowly but was suddenly interrupted by another voice coming from behind him. "You won't what, huh, Cam?"

The boy turned around to see about three people behind him. The one in the middle that spoke had long dark hair and the two others had short brown hair. All their clothes ragged and dirty and their skin just as dirtied as it were gray. More Vampires.

"Cam? If you associate me with the Camerilla then you are mistaken… I don't want anything to do with those pricks…" The boy answered sternly. He had never liked the idea in life of how a Law could never be discussed or disputed, and these Camerilla had lopped the head of his sire for the reason that "That was the law". The boy almost slapped himself, hearing the word Sire inside his own mind. No one would rule him, just as he would rule no one.

The group was not convinced about his words though. "Don't try that on us Cam Cur… The blood of the cam are running through your veins Now… and we would rather have it decorating the area." The middle one of them said grinning widely, his fangs showing threateningly.

The boy realized now they weren't just ordinary Vampires. They were Sabbat, Shovelheads. Like the ones he had fought against with Jack as he exited the trial. His face grew stern as he raised his hands. "Come then… Take my blood…" he said, readying himself for the fight.

Within moments the three beset upon the boy. He was smashed into the wall, head first and afterwards thrown halfway down the alleyway again. The boy had barely time to react upon his now bleeding head before he was lifted up once again by the long haired one in his shirt.

"Any last words Cam?"

The boy nodded. "I have…FREEDOM OR DEATH!" He yelled into his face before slamming both his hands, each over one of the shovelhead´s ears, causing him momentarily loose his hearing and let go of his shirt. This gave the boy time to step back and place another strike directly into his face before kicking him a few meters back. He stopped a moment, amazed by his own power. He had fought police and gangs while alive, but it was never this hectic, since all his previous opponents were human. This speed and power demanded him to react faster than the wings of a humming bird. He snapped out of his thinking as he noticed a piece of old pipe being swung towards him by one of the minor shovelheads. He was quick enough to dodge the pipe, but not the kick that the other shovelhead had made at the same instance. The boy flew back and hit one of the walls in the alley, effectively stunning him. The shovelheads howled in triumph as they saw their foe fallen, and one of them went to help his fallen comrade. The one that remained walked towards the boy and dragged him up once again in his shirt. But what he had not noticed was that the boy had grasped around a piece of leftover wood and swiftly swung it into the shovelheads face, effectively causing a big bleeding wound. The shovelhead took a step back and the boy swung again. A sickening crack resounded through the alley as it seemed to rupture the skull of the shovelhead, sending him to the ground, moaning in pain.

The boy's victory was short lived though, as he was suddenly tackled to the ground by the other shovelhead. He lost his weapon and looked up, only to have his vision blurred by a huge blow to his head. The pain was immense, and he felt the adrenaline in his body go into overclocking as he attempted to throw the shovelhead off of him. They both struggled like mad dogs, the shovelhead attempting to use his fingers like claws and scratch his way into the boys Flesh. The boy, lying on the ground trapped, attempted to grab for a new weapon, this time getting the lead of a dustbin, quite like comic relief smashed into the face of the shovelhead, causing him to fall off of the boy. He rose to his feet, once again trying to get the advantage, but too late, he felt a sudden stinging pain and the taste of blood in his mouth. The long haired shovelhead had gotten a knife out, and it was now neatly placed into the boy´s stomach. He coughed greatly as he lost all air in his dead lungs and was pushed to the ground again, exclaiming loudly in Pain. His still blue eyes now met with the Red ones of the shovelhead. It was clear that he was angry. "You should have begged for your life when you could Cam!" he said before pulling out the knife again and ramming it into the boy´s chest. A shriek of pain escaped the boy. He looked down himself to see the 5 inch blade sitting well placed, towering over his chest like some lighthouse at sea. It was mere luck that it had missed his heart, therefor keeping him from getting paralyzed. His old bodily reactions to breathe started, as he felt the immense pain of steel on the inside of his body. The sensation of breathing would be a fitting end, he thought to himself, realizing he was as good as done, with the shovelhead now sitting over him. He was at his mercy, and this beast had none.  
>"I guess this is where it ends… For freedom for dea-"he said lowly, but was suddenly interrupted by a small female voice.<p>

"Hey! That's not nice! Get off him yoo baddies!"

All the shovelheads turned to see the end of the alley and to their surprise saw a child standing there.

She looked as she was at most 5 years old. She had long golden hair and emerald green eyes; she was wearing a black shirt over a small green top, beyond some seemingly new pants and a pair of shoes. The two other shovelheads, both having begun to ignore the wounds the boy had placed upon them though still quite bloodied and bruised, walked over surrounding her. "Looks like we can get ourselves some desert" one of them said smirking. The other one grinned and laughed menacingly. The little girl placed her closed small hands in her sides and made a face, ironically, like an angry mother, about to scold her children. "Don't yoo know it's not nice being thwee against one? ". One of the shovelheads laughed loudly. "We are not being three against one… We are just playing…" he said looking down on the small child. She suddenly lightened up and smiled broadly. "Playing! Relay! Can I play along?" she said, causing the other Shovelhead to laugh as well. "Sure you can" he said looking up at his friend who both found this quiet amusing. The boy looked upon the Child, quietly praying that nothing would happen to her. She was such a cute little girl and he would curse himself if something happened to an innocent bystander while he was still alive, or not destroyed. The girl smiled broadly and went. "Yay We can play!" she said, suddenly jumping over the shovelheads in her way and running over to the longhaired shovelhead, sitting on top of the boy. "I wanna be on his team!" she said smiling. The longhaired violently ripped the knife out of the boy's chest, causing him to yell in pain again. The Longhaired held the boy down by the throat with one hand and pointed the bloody knife out towards the small girl smirking. "Well you don't really have a choice." He said but noticed he gained a mean look from the little girl. "Hey that was not vewy nice!... He is hurting!" she said tapping her foot as an angry mother. The longhaired shook his head. "Enough of this, Boys lets Dust these two before going home!" He said loudly. The two shovelheads obeyed him immediately and walked towards the little girl. The boy´s eyes widened and he raised his voice. "Don't you touch her you feking pric-" he could not say more before his head raised up and slammed back into the pavement again. "Shut up!" the long haired said. Before he could say anything more though, he suddenly felt the immense pain in the side of his face and suddenly flew off the boy, smashing his head into the wall. He looked up through to painfully realize that it was no other than the little girl who had socked him one square in the jaw. His eyes flared up and he jumped at the girl. But she simply dodged out of his way and placing another well fit punch into the shovelhead´s face. The longhaired was sent well away from the boy and the girl, rolling around on the ground, almost tipping over the two other shovelheads. He clenched his fist, thinking that he would dust the girl with his knife like he attempted the boy, but he looked only to see that his knife was gone; it had fallen from his hand when he was knocked off the boy and was now nowhere to be seen. The two other shovelheads beset upon the girl like a pack of wild dogs, but she just graciously dodged and returned the attacks with equal strength of the adult shovelheads.

The boy was resting up the wall looking at the scene with his hands on his wounds. The blood flowed richly but the cuts and damages were clean. They would heal up soon, but he would surely hunger greatly the next night. His eyes were staring upon the girl. She moved quickly and gracefully. Something had caught his eye. It was clear that she was kindred, and a strong one. But why would any Kindred turn a Child, of all things into one of their own? And such and innocent one as well. And despite the three shovelheads were trying their best to Kill her, she simply smiled and laughed as she dodged out of their ways. She was actually playing with them. Why did this bring a smile to his lips? It was a tragedy that a child had turned kindred, but her innocence was so beautiful.

The fight ended and the three shovelheads ended up at the end of the alleyway, being quite bruised and beaten, but still standing. Their wounds were surprisingly clear, considering that a child had made them. They looked with rage upon the small child who still saw all this as playing a game. "YOU LITTLE BITCH!" yelled the longhaired as one of the shovelheads. He turned to the others. "I want that kindred´s bones in a necklace!" he yelled aggressively before turning towards the girl who stood there smiling. "Awwww why you so potty mouthed? It's not polite to swear…" she said lightly jumping from leg to leg on the spot, as to keep the heat up. The Longhaired took a step forward, only to be stopped by his friends. He turned and looked furiously upon them, "WHAT?" he almost yelled into their faces. One of the shovelheads swallowed his spit and reluctantly said "…Night is ending…" they all looked behind them, realizing that dawn would break any moment now. The long haired yelled back into his face. "KILL THEM BEFORE DAWN THEN!" He lifted up one of the shovelheads, by his shirt. The other shovelhead shook his head vividly. "No way man, Screw this, I don't want to be dust" he said before suddenly running off. The longhaired got distracted by this and the other shovelhead ripped his hands off of his shirt, quickly then jumping off to follow his other fleeing friend. "Come back you cowards!" His fury seemed to top with every betrayal of his friends, but it soon was clear to him as well. He would turn to dust if he stayed. He clenched his fists and smashed one of the dustbins nearby. "You two are finished! You hear me! Finished!" He yelled before running off, following the two other shovelheads to get safe from the sun.

The girl frowned seeing the shovelheads leave, taking a few steps forward, and her hand reaching out in yearning. "Wait… Come baaaaaaacck…" she called out after them sounding sad. There were no longer anyone to play.

She then looked back at the boy. He had risen to his feet and his wounds almost healed, but he knew of the dangers that lurked within the next ten minutes. The girl seemed entirely oblivious to the time, and was about to run after the shovelheads before the boy gently placed a hand on her shoulder. He neither would nor could not let this girl turn to dust. "Young kindred, its best we both get out of here… The sun is rising." The girl looked up upon him almost as if he was her father, with a frown and sad eyes. "But Misteeeeeeeeerrrr…. I'm not tired…" The boy could not help but smile as he had had his experience with children in Life. He gently picked her up, despite his pains of his almost healed injuries. "I know you aren't, but Tomorrow, you can get to play some more." He smiled taking her small hand in his own .The small kindred looked pleadingly into the boy's eyes. "Pwomise?". The boy reached out his pinky finger and intertwined it with hers. "Promise" he said smiling warmly at the child. The young kindred lightened up and grinned with glee. "Yay! We can play again!" she hugged him gratefully. The boy then quickly set off, still holding the little kindred in his arms. They only needed to go a few blocks before they were at the Safe house he had been appointed to him by the Camerilla and The rays of the sun was slowly making their way over the horizon. As they turned down the last alleyway and entered the entrance hall of the small apartment complex on top of the Prawn shop they just narrowly felt the stinging feeling of that witch would destroy them given the chance. A great feeling of relief, glided over the boy as he slowly walked up the stairs and realized they were both safe. He slowly opened the door to the apartment, and looked around. The apartment was extremely small, but luckily had blacked out the windows with black shudders and pieces of cloth. The little girl jumped down from his arms looking around and smiled. "Is this where you live Mister?" she turned her eyes to the boy. He nodded in return. "Now I do, yes…". The girl ran over and sat herself down on the bed, taking the sheet and rolling up a bit, creating a small comforting cave in sheet. She giggled lightly from within the sheet. The boy shook his head smiling and slowly walked over to the fridge, opening it and examining the content, three blood packs and some old pizza, surely from an old human occupant. He pulled out two backs and walked over, handing the girl one as he smiled. The small kindred´s eyes almost glowed with glee as she took the blood pack. "Fank Yoo! You're Really Nice!..." she said before sucking on the blood pack as human children would take a soft drink with a drinking straw. The boy felt some warmth reach his heart a bit. He had always loved children and their innocence. He opened his own blood pack and suckled on the straw, slowly getting his fix. The relieving sensation of his now only source of sustenance came well greeted. He had forgotten his former resolve not to drink. What was important now was to live, let unlive. The girl then stopped drinking and looked up smiling at the boy. "What's your name mister?". The boy looked up and returned the smile. "I am Andreas…"

"Hello Mister Andreas… I'm Ashley!"


	2. Chapter 2  Waking up

Darkness had once again fallen over Los Angeles. Andreas slowly opened his eyes to see where he was. It was the safe house room, lying upon the bed, his body felt like an old bean bag. He rubbed his eyes. It was a strange feeling, having awakened even though he was dead. A yawn escaped from his lips and his eyes gained some more information about his surroundings. He had fallen asleep as he was dressed yesterday. His shirt was still smeared with blood, most of it being his own. The jacket had a few spots from when his head was smashed into the ground, but it was not something that he could not wash out within breakfast.

Breakfast. The thing just struck him again that his coming breakfast would forever be more blood. He lowered his head a moment, thoughtful.

I cannot argue that it felt good… he thought to himself. The sensation of feeling the red plasma liquid glide down his throat was… Indescribable.

I have certainly become a monster… he sighed at himself and curled his legs up holding himself a moment. The moment was short however. He could not mellow in self-pity all the time.

The sound of small lungs snoozing caught his ear and he looked to his side to see the small kindred from yesterday. Ashley.

She was curled up in the beds only sheet and slept so peacefully. The boy could not help himself and gently stroked the little kindred by her hair, feeling the fair skin and her soft golden locks of hair.

Andreas rose up from the bed, stepping over the sleeping Ashley, doing his best not to wake her and walk out to the bathroom not bothering to close the door. He turned the tap and let the water flow. He cupped some with his hands and threw it into his face. Washing his face and waking him.

He took a moment to stare at the mirror. He could see himself, which was quite impressive. He guessed that either some of him was still human, or the basic physics of bouncing light still counted for something when it came to kindred. He traced his finger over his face, stopping a moment at a scar he had running from the side of his right eye to below of it, encircling a quarter of it. So being embraced does not heal old injuries either, he concluded, simply counting on the new facts he had to live with. His eyes then fell upon the spot between his eyes. He chuckled lightly remembering this scar. It often made people mistake him for a Hindu, but the reality was simply a mistake he had done as a toddler. A frown then appeared on his face as he looked himself in the mirror.

"_I think it looks realy good on you…" a beautiful brown haired woman said smiling at him as they sat on the couch in the apartment.  
>"Come on, you jest… I look like some kind of schizophrenic Hindu… I'm not even religious…" he threw his head back slightly. She chuckled.<br>"The Great Comrade a religious man? Now that would be the day…"she said grinning widely, though covering her mouth with her hand. The boy looked over at her.  
>"Well would it be the day if I said I have come to care for a born bourgeois?" he smiled widely. The woman´s eyes lit up.<br>"You…. Mean that?"  
>The boy leaned over lightly planting his lips upon hers, not feeling the coldness of her dead skin. "I mean it."<br>The woman looked down a moment. Her mind in a battle a moment as she panicked mentally, she then looked upon him. "I Want to show you something Andreas…." She said her fangs clearly showing, before she planted them strongly into his neck. _

A tiny crack appeared in the wall as his fist collided with the already beaten down bathroom wall. The feeling of betrayal was still fresh in his gut from only two nights ago. Before the bourgeois had taken him.

He took off his shirt, making him stand bare chested in the bathroom and begun to wash the blood off his chest and his shirt. His senses were tingling, despite the fact that the blood was his own. After this, he would have to hunt. He lightly knocked his head against the wall, not liking the idea of him hunting his fellow, or now former, humans for sustenance.

"Mister Andreaaaaass….."

His train of thought was interrupted as he heard Ashley´s tired voice and felt her pulling at his pocket to get his attention. He looked down to see the small kindred still curled up in the sheet, but had just walked off the bed and now stood beside him, rubbing her eyes and yawning slightly.

"I'm hungry….. Can we go out and play today?"

He could not help but smile looking down on the little kindred as he gently placed a hand upon her head. She made him forget of his worries. "Of course we can, I promised didn't I?"

The little kindred smiled and hugged him around his legs, almost crushing the bones with the strength of her bloodline. "Fank yoo Mister Andreas! You're So much nicer than mean mister LaCroix"

He bit his lower lip and did his best to keep in a squirm of pain from the crushing hug. "Why… thank you…" He then raised an eyebrow. "You know LaCroix?"

The small kindred let go and smiled at Andreas. "Yesh! Mean mister LaCroix asked me to Bwow summin up." She said without any shame or change of compulsion. Andreas was quite taken aback. He had asked a child to do terrorist work? He kneeled down a bit and placed a hand on her head. "So are you going to leave to do that?" he asked, surprising himself of how sad he ended up sounding. He had only just met this child. Ashley shook her head. "Nooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…" She said, exaggerating and stretching the word. "Mister Merqurio says I can't do it yet…. He say it be bwecause… bwecause…" she seemed to think rather hard. "Something about… Stuff…"

Andreas dropped his head. Well that solves the mystery doesn't it? He thought to himself then shaking his head. But then it struck him. "Merqurio? LaCroix asked me to find an agent named Merqurio…"

Ashley smiled greatly. "Yes! Mister Merquwio also told me someone would come… And I'm so appy you did Mister Andreas!" she said before jumping at Andreas, throwing her arms around his neck and ending up hanging like some piece of jewelry. A light chuckle escaped from his lips as he lifted up his arms in support so Ashley would not be dangling from him. "Get yourself ready then, we will go and eat before Meeting mister Merqurio."

Ashley's smile grew larger again. "Ok!" she exclaimed before jumping off of Andreas and skipped out of the bathroom, putting the sheet back on the bed. He sighed slightly, Children was always so hyper. He gave himself one last look in the mirror, ignoring the fact that he had lost the band that kept his hair in a ponytail, so it was now wild and unkempt. Tonight he would have to learn to conform, and be strong for the little kindred. He washed off the last of the blood he could off his shirt and took it back on, ignoring the feeling of wet clothes against his dead skin. Now it just looked like he had spilled red wine all over it. He then put on the jacket, making him look as if nothing had happened and walked out to find Ashley. "Shall we leave?" he asked smiling at Ashley. She was jumping merrily on the spot. "Yay! Breakfast!" She exclaimed loudly and ran out the door.

The streets were more filled than yesterday. Andreas wondered why so many were out tonight. It looked like the usual lot in this part of town. Old, tired, Prostitutes, Emos and other dodgy types in general. There was one man who caught his eye though as soon as they had left the complex and stood in the street. A clearly wealthy man was standing in a suit, and looked genuinely frightened. Andreas scratched his chin a moment, Jacks words resounding in his mind. "When it comes to feeding its quality blood you want, not the quantity. ". And like it or not, the upper class would be the ones most likely to have quality. He looked down to Ashley and whispered to her. "Go down the alley and wait there." She looked a bit confused at first but did as was asked of her, maybe thinking this was a new game. Andreas then quickly made his hair a bit more kempt, and strolled over to the man. "Excuse me."  
>The man looked upon Andreas, his eyes was still frightened. Andreas´s appearance did not help much. He could easily be mistaken for a drunk or a violent junkie, considering his facial scar. The man raised an eyebrow though. "Yes, is there something I can…. Help you with?"<br>Andreas eyed him up a bit. Oh this man was clearly wealthy. That suit was a designer one and he wore real leather shoes. Easily recognizable for one who used to go for people like this. He smiled warmly at the man. "I was just wondering what a gentleman such as yourself is doing here? And especially at this time of night…" He said, glad that the darkness hid his new vampire looks. It made him also realize that he would have to stop grinning with his teeth. People might notice his fangs.  
>The man replied "I am waiting for that blasted Tow truck I called an hour ago… I certainly don't want to wait another moment in this part of town, at this time of night as you said…" he sighed and rubbed one of his temples in frustration. "I should have listened to my mechanic, Buy German! He said…"<br>Andreas nodded lightly. "Well your mechanic was right… German design is the best… In general we Europeans seem to make more high quality products…" The man looked at him seeming surprised. "You are European?" Andreas nodded. "Aye, I am Scandinavian to be precise… Go LEGO…" he said slightly sarcastic.  
>The man seemed to warm up to him a bit. "Well it's too bad you created that European Union… It's a nightmare of expenses to have anything imported from your countries." He said seeming to have calmed down. Andreas nodded and slowly began to take a few steps towards the alleyway but kept talking.<br>"It's an idea of protectionism from the European smart heads, that we trade from the inside and make sure that anyone who wish to sell to us or buy from us get through some troublesome Tariffs so we can keep our wealth in the north…" he said, his voice seeming soothing to the man, and he slowly followed after Andreas, seeming to like where the conversation is going.  
>"It's quite a good business model for developed countries… maybe all should adopt that… Then at least china could not bug in…" he said then noticed that they had walked slightly down an alleyway, he stopped and began to be nervous again. Andreas turned and looked upon him. He looked with concern upon his face and concentrated his words, his clan power automatically running through his veins to his lips.<br>"Are you ok? You look so tired… You seem like you could fall over… any… second… now… " he slowly emphasized the last words as he could see them taking effect upon the human. The man's eyes slowly closed and he fell to the ground, instantly asleep. Jack had told him of this power, but it seemed to be bigger than Andreas had expected. He was always influential but this was just amazing.

Andreas smiled a bit at his accomplishment, glad that things went without any trouble. Then turned his head and whistled. Ashley was already skipping rather quickly in the direction of them and looked upon the downed man. "oooooo… A queen's breakfast!" she said with Glee as she almost jumped on top of the downed man. Andreas looked a bit concerned at Ashley. "Now now, don't get too excited-" he was interrupted by Ashley happily exclaiming. "Don't wowy Mister Andreas! I know what to do!" She smiled loudly before almost beast like rammed her fangs into the man´s neck. The man took no notice of it. He didn't even flicker in his sleep. He was at peace, while being in theory "eaten" for sustenance. Andreas´s throat wanted to turn inside out at the image a moment. This was not his ideals…

Ashley let go of the man's neck. She smilingly whipped her lips and licked her fingers as if it was leftover ice cream on a warm day. She then ran up and hugged Andreas, with the same crushing force like earlier. "Fank yoo Mister Andreas! That was Delicious!" she said grinning broadly.

The boy just returned with a light smile. He gently released himself from Ashley´s hug and began to take a few steps towards the exit of the Alleyway, but he was stopped by Ashley. "Isn't Mister Andreas hungry?" she looked up at him seeming worried all of a sudden. He smiled and tried to shrug it off. "Naw, I'm not… I'll be fine for the evening." He said then kneeling down by the man, leaning in to his ear. "You collapsed from exhaustion… Maybe you should head to your car, the tow truck could be here any minute now…" he said, again concentrating on his words. It worked once again and the Man sprung to life and rose up from the ground. He didn't even entertain the thought that something had happened to him and he seemed to be thinking his and the boy's conversation had continued. "Well it was interesting talking to you Sir, but I better get to my car… thanks for watching over me as a fell." He said before leaving the scene as soon as the last syllable had left his lips. The boy smiled lightly at the result. "Well then… Let's go Ashley… I'm sure Merqurio is waiting…" he said before he started walking. He could not see the little kindred look upon him with both worry and concern in her eyes. Her lower lip was quivering slightly. Why were mister Andreas not eating? She asked herself. She had been doing this for long and she knew it tasted good… Why didn't he do it?

They both came to a halt as they arrived at the apartment building of which should be Merqurio´s residence. There were clear signs of someone having literally dragged themselves through the door. A clear bloody handprint was upon the door and it was standing wide open. They both followed the trail of blood until they came to the end of the hall, where another door was open and a discouraging sight met them both. Ashley knew it was Merqurio, but he was lying on the couch, repainting it in his own blood as he tried to control his own breathing. He noticed the two and turned his head and clenched his teeth, biting the pain into him before speaking. "Those fuckers…. Ripped me off…. I'm dying here…." Ashley ran over to him exclaiming. "Mister Merquwio!"

Andreas followed right behind, examining the bleeding man. "This looks quite bad… We better call the hospital-" he said but was interrupted. "What! No, I got a record back east… I'm Heat bait…. Don't touch that phone… No god damn cops!" The boy looked upon the bleeding man. He knew that it was not smart contacting a hospital if one was not on good terms with the cops, but sometimes it was necessary. "Are you Sure?" he asked again. "No Cops!" the man said in confirmation. The little kindred looked at all the blood around and licked her lips a bit, getting distracted rather quickly despite the dire situation. The boy also felt his senses tingle for the blood but had enough will to focus. "What happened to you?"

Merqurio clenched his sides in a feeble attempt to keep his body from giving up. "Goddamn chemists… you can't trust any operators in LA…" he complained lowly. The boy nodded in agreement. "The gangs here are rather underhanded…" Merqurio looked back at the boy, a moment wondering how a Ventrue could know so much of the gangs. They usually stick to an office and stick out orders. He then continued. "I set up a drop on the beach, the organization seemed reliable… I was supposed to get some Astrolight for the demolition of a sabbat Interest…" He took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself. "I show up with the money right, and suddenly out of nowhere, four of those sons of bitches with bats jump out and beat me to a pulp. Now they got the money… they got the astrolight."

The boy nodded. "An easy target for them and easy gain… I'm surprised you did not see that coming…" he boy said raising an eyebrow. Merqurio snapped at him. "I know I made a mistake ok!... I was cocky and got what I deserved… but now you have to get it back..."

Andreas crossed his arms a moment, but then moved his hands up to help with some of the bleedings on Merqurio. He exclaimed loudly in pain but could see he was trying to help. "But what do I get out of it?" the boy asked, mentally slapping himself for the question. But he could not fight for his ideas in this condition. He would need some help. Merqurio breathed through his teeth to soften his pain. "You might get to get away from the top dogs watchful eye… And not get the same fate as your Sire…"

The boy clenched his fists a moment. The mention of her made his blood boil, and even more when she was called his ´Sire´. Ashley then pulled at his shirt. "And then maybe mean Mister LaCroix will let Ashley pway!" She said smiling. The boy could not help but return the smile at her. Was all that she did just a big game of tag? He asked himself, then he remembered being a child himself and nodded at the little kindred. "Well that sounds like a good enough reason to do it." He said then looks back at Merqurio. "Where are they hanging out?"

"Those junkie pricks live in a small dump on the beach… Should be easy to find…" the boy nodded then.

"Allright." He said before rising to his feet. He was about to leave when he stopped up and looked back at Merqurio a moment. "May I ask how at all you're alive? I have seen people die from half the manhandling it seems you have suffered. "

Merqurio gave the boy a questioning look a moment, then realized why he asked. "Right… you're straight off the bus… I forgot that… Once a Month I get fed Vampire blood… It makes me heal better, stronger than a normal human, and I don't age… You wouldn't think it but I'm almost sixty."

Andreas was impressed. "Vampire blood can heal? " He looked down on his wrist and then looked at Merqurio. But he was interrupted. "It Can, But I won't take more than once a month… There are Vices about this… And I won't take it even if it means I Die…" Merqurio said glaring at Andreas. The boy kind of felt bad for asking and let his hand glide down to his side again.

"So… Does a human turn into something by one drink?"

Merqurio shook his head again. "No.. It will take more than thaaaaaa—" he suddenly cringed in pain. "Urrrrrrgh… something started leaking…" he said with a voice filled with pain. Ashley looked down tilting her head slightly at Merqurio. "Can we help Mister Merquwio?" She actually looked quite concerned for the poor ghoulish human on the couch. He swallowed his spit and forced out the words. "Yea… I need something for the pain… Painkillers, anything…"

Andreas nodded his head and looked over at Ashley. "Ok then, You keep an eye on him so he doesn't die, I'll get him something." He said, gesturing for her to stay put. Ashley smiled and placed her hand up in a Salute. "Ok!" she exclaimed and it brought a light smile to the boy's face. "Good…" He said before turning on his heels and ran out the door. He may work for those who just put him on trial, but it would not be human, No, It would not be Sentient of him to not help an almost dying man.

A few blocks away he found a small hospital. Not much of a hospital as he knew it from Europe, but this seemed to take care of the lower rungs of Society. He made his way through the door to the waiting room, seeing quite many people waiting, some actually bleeding and the receptionist seemed like she did not care. Amazed a moment, he walked up to the counter. The receptionist was a woman in her twenties with eyes sharp like nails, as she glared up at him. "Please, Wait your turn and you will be seen!" She said sternly. Andreas took on his best carefree smile. "Please, I'm just here to bring some things to a friend, I won't be a bother to the doctors or anything, I can see you are all too busy this evening."

The receptionist did not seem to buy it but just huffed. "Fine, whatever, just stay out of the personnel's way and be out of there as soon as you have delivered your things." The boy just smiled and moved up to tip his hat, but realizing he didn't have any; he just made the gesture and walked back behind the reception and into the hospital.

He knew his way around hospitals, so it didn't take long to find where the pain killing drugs and anesthetics were kept. A slightly smug smile grew across his face as he dug into his pocket and found a small red Swiss army knife with more than a few functions, one of them including a potent lock pick. This knife wasn't really sold in stores, but more of a custom made one. The lock was already quite worn down, so it only took a minute or so before the clicking made the announcement that it was open. The boy opened the cupboard and looked around the different kinds of drugs. With the damages Merqurio had, there would be need of something strong. All he found that was potent enough was a bottle of Morphine. It would certainly do, but wasn't what he would have preferred, it was quite an addictive drug and was often stolen by junkies. He then shrugged his shoulders as there was nothing else there that was as potent as he needed. He grabbed a small plastic bag with a one-time use Syringe, thinking that would have to Do. He opened his jacket and hid the drugs in the inside pocket, along with the evidence of his fight yesterday. He turned on heels and walked towards the reception, but stopped as he saw a door half open and there was a woman bleeding all over the place in there. She had tipped off her hospital bed and was now crawling slowly for the door. He just reacted and rushed in to see what was wrong. She was a young woman, 20 at most like himself and she seemed to be coughing up blood along with some cuts to the exterior of her body. She had Bright red hair and blue eyes with which she looked pleadingly into his soul with.

"P-p-pplease…. G-get a doctor…" Andreas immediately lifted her up, placing her back upon the bed again. "Stay Alive… I'll bring one right along" he said reassuring and ran out the door and down the hall. He found a room with a single doctor working on a patient, whose damage he could not see. He pulled the doctors shoulder. "Sir I think a Woman is dying In one of the other rooms… she is bleeding out rapidly and-" he was interrupted by the doctor snapping at him. "I have a man here with a bullet in his head! And I'm the only physician at the moment! My nurse paged Doctor Goldberg half an hour ago; he should be here any minute now."  
>"But-"<br>"Go back to your friend, Try and talk to her, keep her awake" he simply snapped at him and went back to the patient he had been working on. Andreas glared at the doctor. "Land of the Free… yea, free to be Pricks…" he said spitefully before running back to the room with the woman before. She was in a way worse condition than before. She seemed to be couching uncontrollably and had trouble getting the necessary oxygen a human needed. She looked upon the boy with tears in her eyes. "Can someone call my grandma… please…" she seemed to get paler by the second. She was dying. This made Andreas panic… He never let anyone die on him, never in his life.

"Stay with me here! You are going to be ok!" he called at her as he tried to help her stabilize, putting pressure against her outside wounds, taking whatever medicinal supplies that were at hand, but his efforts were to no avail. He could hear her heartbeat slowly beginning to fail. Small moans of pain became weaker and weaker. Blood pressure rapidly dropping and would soon only act upon the laws of gravity. Andreas looked upon the woman, and then remembered Merquiro´s words. He gave his wrist a quick look then back at the woman. What would happen if he did? Would he be any better than the sire he now despised if he fed her his blood?

He ran his fingers through his hair and griped it by its roots in panic.

What was he supposed to do!


	3. Chapter 3  Frenzy

The small kindred were sitting next to the couch with the badly beaten Merqurio by her. She sat playing with a lock of hair with one hand, and a small model car she had found in the apartment, with the other. Her childish glee with the small car was not diminished by the smears of blood across the room, or the wheezes from Merqurio´s Lungs. It had been about half an hour now and still no sight of the boy who had left for painkillers. Merqurio was getting uneasy.

"Whats taking that kid so long?" he said sounding slightly annoyed, though speaking lowly so he did not have to strain any of his injuries. Ashley began walking around the room, making small engine sounds with her mouth. Grinning widely as she once in a while laughed and made the tiny car go over high jumps and ravines. Merqurio was not pleased. "Great… I got a only 2 fekin days old vamp to search for something that might save my existence, and the one he put to guard me here is a fucking Kid…"

He was interrupted as suddenly the small car, still in Ashley´s hand flew over another jump and landed on his face, the wheels rolling in his face causing a deal of pain. He exclaimed in pain and pushed the car away, only to see the small kindred stand there tapping her foot. "You got a potty mouth… Mister Andreas will be back soon!" she said, with that determination only a child could have. Merqurio sighed in frustration. "Well that calms be quite the fuck down… And who is he anyways? I just got this task yesterday to expect a newcomer…." He grunted a bit as he moved slightly, making sure not to strain any wounds excessively. It was quite a painful progress. "And out comes a boy and a child…"

"Mister Andreas is a stwong webel… He is instiwational and true to his word." The little kindred said smiling, causing Merqurio to raise an eyebrow. "Or dats what his sire said…."

"You knew his sire?"

Ashley nodded smiling. "Yes!... She was so funny! Best friend I had evar! My sire was alswo bwest friends with Mister Andreas´s sire" She said with glee. Reality hit Merqurio a moment. She did not know She had been executed. It was against the law to embrace people without their consent. And the only reason Ashley and her sire hadn't been executed was because they were Gangel, and not people that the Camarilla took responsibility for.

"When was it last you saw her?"

The little kindred scratched her chin thinking. "uhm…. Uhm…. Uuuuuuuuuhm…. A Week ago…" she said, the memory finally striking her. Before Merqurio could say anything, the door opened, and Andreas walked in, his clothes soaked in more blood. "What the fuck kid, I asked you to bring painkillers not start a riot!" he said then clenching his sides again, as another shot of pain got through him. "Did you find anything?" He asked. The boy nodded lightly. He opened his jacket and pulled out the bottle of morphine with the single time use syringe. He stabbed the top of the container of Morphine and drew out the content into the sterilized syringe. Ashley immediately let out a small ´meep´ and hid behind the couch, as most children would when faced with a needle or a syringe. The boy took great care as he found the most suitable place upon Merqurio´s shoulder to insert the needle and prepared the area. The needle punctured his skin and the pain mending matter was slowly injected into the pained man´s body. He took a deep breath through his teeth. "Urrrrrgghhh Holy Christ I needed that… Thank you…" he said lowly, his muscles all seeming to relax as his pain faded from him. The boy smiled lightly. "You're welcome…" he said before rising up to a standing position again. "Right… Now on to get that Astrolight" he said, for some reason seeming slightly rushed. He turned but was immediately stopped by Ashley who hugged him around the Knee. "Nouuuuuuuuuu… Mister Andreas Don't leave me agaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiin…" she said, sounding more annoyed than sad. He looked down upon her, about to tell her to stop that, but then he noticed her Eyes. Her Emerald green eyes were quivering. Was she about to cry? He wondered. She was making the most sincere and earnest Puppy dog eyes, and all just because she didn't want him to leave? They had only just met yesterday… The boy padded her head lightly.  
>"Aww Ashley don't give me that look… I don't want to leave you either but I have a task to do…" he said, his words feeling false in his mouth. Task, what a joke, it was a garrote wire around his already dead neck, and all the people at the top had to do was pull the strings. The Little kindred kept looking.<br>"I knooooooow!... Bring me alongggggg… Mister Merqurio is booring!... You pwomised we woud pway! You pwomised!" She said shaking the boys legs back and forth, like he was a strange pole in the ground that needed to be removed. A sigh escaped the boy's mouth before he gave a light smile. "All right… you win… Come then little Kindred… Let us go to the beach…"

Ashley's eyes lit up like a thousand fires. "YAAAAAAAAAAAYY! THE BEACH, THE BEACH, THE BEACH!" She kept chanting the words "The Beach", as they left the room, leaving behind the Healing Merquiro. "Did those two suddenly forget I was here?"

Some people turned their heads as they saw the 6 year old kindred girl run in circles around the smiling boy, with an abnormal sense of Glee. She skipped around and sometimes bumped into the boy, but simply continued onwards. Almost everyone agreed with themselves that they were related in some way, it just seemed obvious.

A few streets later, they found themselves on a back route down to the beach. This would be the most discrete way to arrive, despite having an excitable child along for the ride. During the entire walk, Andreas found himself becoming a bit weaker. His mouth seemed to dry out way quicker than usual, and sometimes he felt his mind fly off a moment. On top of this he seemed to breathe irregularly, which really surprised him. Last night it was enough of a surprise for him that he wasn't breathing at all. But now once in a while he just needed to feel the air pass down into his lungs. The thought struck him a moment, of how he spoke if he was not breathing. His scientific mind was at work now, even though it was more confused than ever with all the new data it before had disregarded as fantasy. He then shook his head; He had let his thoughts drift off again. He was thinking it must have been the strange sleep schedule he had to follow now. Lack of Sleep, as well as too much sleep could be dangerous to the mind, he knew. But there was something more. And that something was something Ashley could feel in him. Despite her glee about going out to Play, She had still been a kindred long enough to know that this smell Mister Andreas had, and this tiredness he surely was feeling, was not something to be reckoned with. They arrived at the beach and noticed the scene. The water looked nice and the moonshine wonderfully bounced off the water. Quite a beautiful scene. To their right was a chain gate, leading up to some kind of strange little dump of a house, and by that gate was a few people warming themselves by a fire in an old oil barrel. Maybe they are homeless? The boy questioned but then noticed the little kindred was not by his side.

Ashley was down by the water within seconds. She had taken off her shoes and socks to splash around the small waves that frequently came in to the shore. Seeing this scene could not help but bring a smile to the boy´s face. He had always loved to see children playing. That innocence before you realize what horrors exist in this world. It felt like a weight was placed upon his heart as he looked upon Ashley. Whoever had sired her deserved to be buried in the deepest parts of the sea, never to be discovered again.

His train of thought was interrupted as a woman with what sounded like a Slightly Russian accent pulled at his shoulder. "Up There… Up the stairs through the chain link gate…" The boy raised an eyebrow.  
>"Excuse me?"<br>The woman looked sincerely at Andreas. "Those men you are looking for… they are up there…"  
>The boy was confused a moment, how did she know who he was looking for? But he nodded his head politely and said "Thank you…"<br>The woman left the scene and walked over to the group of people around the fire.  
>Andreas entertained the thought of Leaving Ashley on the beach and get the Astrolight before she knew it. He shook the thought off of him though as he knew how watchful the little kindred was. She would notice before he even had touched the gate. He slowly walked over to Ashley. "Do you want to stay here and play while I go do the task from Mister Merqurio?" he immediately saw her shake her head. "NOPE! You aint leavin Mister Andreas… Not without me!" She said running over to him and grabbed around his wrist. He was glad the small cut from earlier had healed. The boy let out a light sigh once again. "I had a feeling you would say that…"<p>

The gate was not locked and It squealed horribly as the rusty metal was not used to be moved. Also the stairs was all rusty and seemed like they could fall at any moment. Lazy workmanship, the boy thought as they ascended the stairs slowly. As the house can into view, it was clear why Merqurio had called it a dump. It was completely broken at best, filled over with graffiti and half the windows were broken in. A suitable place for gangs and druggies, the boy thought. No innocents here to get caught in the crossfire, in case they won't play ball. He took a few steps forward towards the house but stopped as Ashley was still holding his hand. He kneeled down to her height and smiled at her. "Ash I have to go in alone…", Immediately after the words had escaped his lips he was interrupted by a sharp "No!"  
>"No you do not Mister Andreas! You are Hungwy! Sire says it's no good to go alone when hungwy!" she said stubbornly. The boy bit his lower lip, he could not deny that he felt an immense hunger, and knew that he had to feed. But he simply put on a light smile. "I am hungry yes, but these are bad men… They will also question me if I bring a child along… They might not trust me."<br>"You could just kill them… Kill the bad men! They are bad right? Its Fair?" She looked questioningly upon Andreas. He then took her hands in his and looked into her eyes with sincerity.  
>"Ashley, what is fair is subjective… And I still don't have enough information to condemn them to death… They deserve a chance-"<p>

"No! Bad men don't deserve a Chance! Like Mean men yesterday… Dey be Mean! Dey not deserve to live!" she said sternly. Andreas was a bit taken aback. It seemed that Ashley had seen a bit more death and destruction than he anticipated at first. He placed a hand upon the little kindred´s head. "Ash… there is no such thing as good and bad… There is only the feelings we put into it… Please… Be a good girl and wait for me will you? Because I trust you, and I care for my cute little Kindred." He said smiling warmly at her, as he poured his heart slightly. The little kindred sniffled and stood looking into the ground for quite long. "Only if you pwomise to come back… and Pway with me some more…" she said lifting up her pinky again. "No don't just pwomise, Swear…" Her sincerity touched the boy´s heart string as he made his pinky intertwine with hers and pulled his hand into his chest. "I swear by the teachings of Marx and Engel, those who finally saw the chains that hold humanity to the ground, that I will come back and play with you again Ashley… Trust me."

The little kindred looked a bit confused a moment but nodded. Though the girl knew nothing of those two names, she could see that they meant something for Mister Andreas. The boy then slowly rose to his feet and began to walk towards the house.

A young, bare chested, muscular man was standing outside the house, slowly smoking a cigarette and keeping himself on his toes by looking out. He immediately noticed the boy. "Need something pal?" he said, keeping a keen eye on him. Andreas simply bowed his head lightly. "I am here to make a deal… I'm quite certain we both know what we need, so how about we cut straight to the chase?" he asked, taking his best superior positioning. The shirtless man crossed his arms and gave Andreas a questioning look a moment, but then nodded. "Sure… Go inside…" he then took a step to the side, clearing the way for Andreas to enter.

The inside of the house also looked quite like Shit to be honest. The furniture was run down, smelly and seemed to have seen its fair share of brutal romantic conquests. The wall paper was run down and shards of glass from broken bottles littered a lot of the floor. The most advanced he saw was a TV and an old gaming console, clearly stolen recently. Two hooded boys around his age was sitting each with a controller and yelled at each of each other, both saying the other was cheating. They were clearly high on some kind of drug, judging from the way they seemed to react upon the smallest changes in stance of their opponent. As Andreas slowly strolled towards a door at the end of the room he saw more, same looking junkies in the kitchen, sitting and playing cards. They were a mixture of tired and indifferent towards the game. Seeming like every move took 10 minutes to even consider.

As the door opened and a tall African American in a white suit with golden chains and rings all over, exited the room, taking his place before Andreas, the thought struck him *This won't help kill ANY kind of stereotype…*. The thought simply repeated itself the moment the whit suited man opened his mouth.  
>"Oh Yea, you look at me real good, cause let me tell you something, if I you sell me out, I will fuck you, If I find out you try to cheat me of a deal, I will fuck you and whoever you are working with… If I find out you are a cop-"<p>

"Let me guess… you will fuck me?" Andreas said without thinking.

"Quite Cocky are we?" the white suit asked him, clearly sending a scowl that would send shivers down many people´s spines. Andreas was more disgusted than scared. Gangs were the worst. Crows that simply swept down upon the proletariat after the bourgeoisie had already robbed them blind.

"Only towards those I don't like…" Andreas said glaring back at the scowl he received. The white suit crossed his arms, looking confidently at Andreas.

"You are either quite brave or fucking stupid, you know that kid?"

"Does a buyer have to like the seller? No… What is important is the transaction..."

"You don't realy sound like a person who would want anything we have…" he said sounding quite suspicious.

"What I need, is Astrolight… More specifically THE astrolight that was promised to an associate of mine, whom you robbed blind and then broke the deal…"

The moment those words had escaped the boy´s mouth; a smirk appeared on the white suit's face. "You are one of Merqurio´s friends, am I right?"

"An Associate I would rather say." The boy said, still standing as confident as when the conversation started. Around him the junkies, who before was concerned about their games, and their druginfused thoughts, had now risen to their feet. All of them with huge grins on their faces.  
>"Well a Friend of Merqurio´s is a friend of ours, Right boys?" the white suit said, earning a room full of laughs from the junkies. They all slowly had begun finding all kinds of weapons forth. Some took bats, others just took pieces of Plywood, one had gotten a knife out and the white suit had a 38. Caliber revolver. Andreas scowled at the white suit. Guns… Why is there always someone who brings a gun to a melee fight?<p>

"It seems that we didn't send enough of a Message with Merqurio… We also have to beat up his associates…" the white suit said, earning a chuckle from a lot of the junkies around them. A few of the ones with bats took a step forward towards Andreas. He had closed his eyes a moment. He was focusing. Normally, this would be a horrible situation. But this wasn't normal. He no longer had a life to be afraid of losing. All he had was a promise to return victorious. "If you infuse the wrath of the proletariat… Don't complain about getting slaughtered… " he said, his eyes crashing open and turned to land a quick and devastating punch to the nearest adversary. It came completely unexpected to the Junkies, and the sheer force of his now kindred body crashed together with the face of one of the bat carriers, a sickening crack resounding already as he smashed into the wall behind him. Everyone's eyes widened. The sorry junkie, who was hit, already bled terribly from his now broken nose and mono bruised face. He was staring in sheer shock on the boy. How could he have delivered such a punch?

"What are you all staring at! GET HIM!" the white suit ordered, and they all began recovering their senses. Two more of the bat carriers charged at Andreas, both swinging their bats in hope of cracking his face. The boy took a dodge jump backwards, ending on one foot. The momentum fitted and he swung around, sending a kick into the side of one of the attackers, causing him to crash over on the ground in pain. He had not realized that he had actually cracked a few rips on the poor junkie. The second attacker tried once again, and he was able to make the bat collide with the boy´s shoulder, again a clear crack resounded in the room and the boy cried out in Pain. He clenched his hand to his shoulder and breathed through his teeth. Shit, he thought, I am slower than yesterday… it must be the hunger…

His throughts was interrupted by the sheer force of plywood, colliding with the boys chin, sending him crashing to the floor effectively. It felt like his head was spinning as he was lying on the ground. I can't fight like this… My body is weakened… he thought as he tried to get a hold of what was going on. Two strong hands lifted up the boy by the collar and he stared into a pair of green eyes. He held a knife to him. "Any last words you prick?"

He was so close…He could smell it… his blood… it was pumping through the veins only inches away from him. That moment seemed like an age, an age of debate and thoughts in the parliament that is his mind and thoughts. A lot of them similar when he had been fighting while alive, but now, a new group of thoughts had come into that Parliament. And they now took control. By that end, a decision was made, and a confident smirk appeared on his face. "Yes there is…" he then grabbed around the Junkies hand with a speed that for mortals seemed impossible, and yanked the knife out of it. And before anyone could notice what had happened, the knife was stabbed directly into the shoulder neck area of the boy, effectively cutting an artery and earning a blood bubbling scream to exit his lips. The blood flowed richly as he yanked out the knife from the Junkie, and the boy Crashed down upon the bleeding wound. Without thinking, the boy sunk his fangs into this poor mortal´s body, beginning to drain him of blood and plasma. The junkie cried out in pain but was like stone, and unable to push the boy off of him.

It seemed once again as if time had stopped. The red liquid was overflowing his mouth, gliding down his throat and filling up his stomach neatly and comfortably. The boy felt like he was losing himself. Everything was going black, and words began to whisper in his mind. "Destroy them…kill them all…. Fulfill your desire…"

He then shot open his eyes and threw himself off of the Junkie. The junkie collapsed upon the ground, lifeless. Blood was still running down the boy´s lips and dripped from his fangs still.

The white suit had lost so much color in his face. His eyes ran franticly back and forth between the now dead junkie and the Kid he just had ordered to be beaten down. "What the FUCK? That's Just Sick man!"

He could not see the boy´s face, but he could hear his voice. It was low and slightly monotone.

"And Caesar's spirit, raging for revenge,  
>With Ate by his side come hot from hell,"<p>

The white suit was quite freaked out. "What the hell you talking about! You just drank dudes blood!" The boy continued none the less.

"Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice  
>Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war," he said slowly crawling over to the fallen Junkie. He slowly closed the eyes of the dead and looked up into the ceiling.<p>

"This foul deed shall smell above the earth." He then turned his head, staring upon the white suit. A face that looked like the dead had risen, he seemed without remorse. His eyes as Red as the blood that was spilling upon the ground and still smearing his teeth and his clothes. "With Carrion men, groaning for burial…"

And with those words he rose up from the ground, knife in his hand. He charged at two of the junkies, sticking the knife into the gut of one of them, and grapping the other by the throat. All air left the gutted junkie as he crashed to the ground, bleeding heavily from his stomach. The boy pulled out the knife from the fallen and threw the other Junkie into the wall, clearly causing a crack in his head, knocking him unconscious. Only three more left.

He turned to look upon the three terrified mortals. The white suit still had the gun in his hand but seemed immobile as he just stood there, Sweating and panting. The two others had already dropped their weapons and was either running or crawling away, attempting to flee. Andreas took no notice of them. He slowly walked towards the white suit, with venom in his eyes. As he was only an arm away, the white shirt finally grasped himself, and attempted to pull the trigger, but the boy grabbed around his wrist and twisted it around, causing the white suit to drop the gun and cry out in pain. The boy stared upon him with his still red shining eyes, ending up getting a horrible scowl on his face.  
>"And thus I clothe my naked villainy,<br>with odd ends stol´n forth from holy writ,  
>and seem a saint when most I play the devil…"<p>

"Come on Man, Have Mercy!" The white suited man said, getting increasingly desperate. A horrible grin appeared on the boy´s face. "Oh not tonight friend… Your time has expired". He said, raising the knife, ready to stab down the white suit. But suddenly a voice cried. "STOP!". Andreas turned to see the small face of Ashley crying large tears as she stared menacingly upon the boy.  
>"STOP THAT MISTER ANDREAS!" She said running up to him, once again embracing him into a crushing hug. "Pwease!" she called out at him. He looked down confused upon the small kindred. His mind felt like a blurry haze. Before he could answer, another voice broke in. "She is right… This isn't you… it's the beast speaking…"<p>

Andreas´s eyes fell upon a thin man with dark and messy hair, His yellow eyes almost shining out in contrast to the dark background. One could have mistaken him for a huge beast if one had not seen him. His teeth seemed to be showing even if he closed his mouth and his hands and fingers had more forms of Claws, than normal human hands. He slowly walked towards Andreas.  
>"The Frenzy of a Ventrue can be more subtle than other Kindred, but it's no less dangerous… You need to awaken now… you have fed…" He said, having reached the boy and placed his claw like hand on his shoulder. "Awaken Andreas… Banish the beast…" And with those words, it seemed like the haze vanished from the boy´s mind. His eyes widened and he looked around on the bleeding corpses and unconscious bodies. His gaze stopped at the little Ashley that was clinging around his feet. He immediately let go of both the white suit and the knife, to go down to return the embrace of the small Kindred. "Holy mother…." He said as he slowly began to fathom what had happened. His original plan was just to defeat them fair and square, but something had taken over… he had not been careful.<p>

The dark haired man stood over the two and looked down at them. A faint smile grew across his lips, but he then looked over towards the White suit. He was attempting to escape.

The white suit ran out the back door, only to see the horrible sight of those who had tried to escape before. They had almost been torn to shreds it seemed, their bloodied corpses littered the ground like puzzle pieces after someone had knocked the table over. Before he could compose himself he felt eyes watching upon him. He turned and met a pair of golden yellow eyes, before he felt the excruciating pain of being gutted.  
>"The masquerade must be upheld…" the dark haired whispered, before pulling his claws out of the man´s stomach again. He whipped his claws clean and walked back into the house to see Andreas getting scolded by Ashley.<br>"I told you you were hungwy Mister Andreas, but 'noooooouuuuu' You said you were fine! Don't you ewer do that again! Swear by that!" She said, childishly hammering her fists into the boy´s chest as if she was trying to bang on a door. For a moment, the boy´s face could be mistaken for a child that was apologetic towards their mother, but he quickly shook his head.  
>"Sorry Ashley… I swear I won't… I'm here aint I? We can still get to play". The small kindred was still glaring at the boy, but in the end let out a*hmph* in frustration. "Fine… Your forgiwen, But if you do it again then… Then… Ill be vewy angwy!" she said, seeming unable to come up with an actual threat. She then turned to Look up to the dark haired man. "Sire! Dis be Mister Andreas… Hes my new fweind!" she said almost standing proudly. The pair of yellow eyes slowly scanned the boy, but he smiled. "I already knew that…" he then reached out his claw like hand for a greeting. "I am Ashley´s sire… Pleased to meet you fledgling." The boy took his hand, though the handshake was slightly awkward as the claw like hand did not fit all that well together with his own normal hand. He was actually quite surprised. He had harbored such hate for whoever had sired Ashley, but now seeing him. He could not follow up upon that hate. "Pleased to meet you… And thank you for your help." he said in Return. He simply smiled and waved one of his claw-like hands dismissively. "Oh I merely played my part." He then looked around on the dead and unconscious. "But we better get to cleaning up… We don't need the Kine police to be looking into this…" The boy looked upon the bodies as well. A small feeling of discomfort formed in his stomach, but what was the worst, was it was not AS discomfort able as he thought. "But how are we going to hide… This many bodies… and some of them aren't dead yet…"<p>

The dark haired man picked up the knife which that claimed most of the lives in the room. He slowly handed it to the boy. "Firstly you take this along…" he then pulled the boy towards the room the White suit had walked out of. It was filled with all kinds of drugs, speed, coke, ecstasy, you name it. And in the corner was a strange contraption of bottles with wires and a small timer in the side. "That's the astrolight?" the boy questioned. Ashley´s sire nodded. "Yes… You take the Astrolight and the knife. Then you and Ashley get out of here. Throw away those bloodied clothes of yours and go back to the safehouse. I will take care of the bodies. It will seem to the Kine that this was a gang raid to get drug control of the area…."

The boy looked down himself to see once again his clothes were smeared with blood. He sighed a bit. "Well this is just Dandy… How are we supposed to get home with this? I don't think it would be any LESS suspect if I was walking down the street, bare chested with a small girl in one hand, and a bomb in the other…"

The sire then pulled up a small black wallet, and handed it to the boy. "Here… There are a few hundred dollars in that, get you and Ashley some new clothes…" Andreas tired politely to push it back. "Oh you don't need to give us money, I'm sure-"

"Please take it… Its owner would have wanted you to have it…" The sire said, causing Andreas to raise an eyebrow. The dark haired sire then looked over Andreas´s shoulder to see the small kindred being quite distracted by the gaming console the junkies had been playing on. A small frown appeared on his lips as he slowly closed the door, causing Andreas and him to be alone in the room with the drugs. "I have something I need to speak with you about… Several things actually." He said, his golden yellow eyes turning towards the floor. "I can't keep an eye on Ashley… Not for the time a Sire is supposed to…" he bit his lower lip slightly, actually causing a small bleeding. "When I Sired Ashley… It was in a panic… and I did not know what else to do. It seemed like the right option at the time but-"

"But you fear that it might not be in a couple of years?" the boy asked, gaining a slight nod and eye contact with the sire.

"Yes… I have been trying to be a teacher and mentor to Ashley… but… that's not what a child needs…" he said closing his eyes. "In these years of her life, she needs someone to care for her… To be her family… And in a couple of years… She will need someone to blame for her current condition…" he said, sadness clear in his voice.

"I cannot be both her family and the one to blame… It would destroy her from the inside out…"

The boy slowly began feeling a great about of Pity for the creature in front of him. "So… What do you-" he was then interrupted by the Sire grapping one of his hands and kneeling down, seeming to almost beg. "Andreas 'The Comrade' Doctor… I am begging you… Will you please take care of Ashley for me?"

Andreas was extremely taken aback. Firstly it was the request, secondly, "How do you… How do you know my entire name… and my nickname?"

"I knew your Sire Andreas… She was the one who told me…" he said getting that information rather quickly out of the way. "But Please tell me… Will you Take care of Ashley?..."


	4. Chapter 4 Always Trouble

The boy was sitting on the side of the bed in the safe house, holding the wallet handed to him yesterday in his hands. He was staring down upon it, trying to go over what had happened lately. What had he gone along with?

"_Ashley needs a parental figure… Rose told me you were honorable and true to your word… " he dark haired sire said as he was on his knees. "I beg of you… Will you take care of her?" _

_The boy looked down himself, his mind felt more messed up than ever. "How can I refuse such a task?" he asked raising his head looking upon the sire. "But tell me one thing… Why would you give me HER wallet?" he said, trying to hide the contempt and feelings of betrayal in this voice. The black haired sire looked earnestly into the boys eyes. "Rose told me that if anything happened to her… She would give her things to you, knowing that you would use them well-" _

"_Yea right!" Andreas said cutting the sire off. "She fucking tricked me… I actually fell for her and began bending my ideals to let a bourgeois into my heart… And she repaid me by killing me!" He raised his voice, almost to the yelling level. "I heard her clansmen´s chuckles and their fixed grins. They all saw this as an Ironic joke… The Great Comrade tricked by a bourgeois…What a bundle of laughs…." _

_The dark haired sire then looked upon Andreas with soft eyes. "Can you feel that anger? That anger of betrayal and hurt?" the boy raised an eyebrow and was about to say something but the sire cut him off. "Imagine that anger, and then added the anger of never being able to grow up… Never being able to love, never being able to tell anyone how old you actually are when you are trapped in the dead body of a 5 year old…" he looked like he was about to burst into tears that he simply didn't have. "Imagine that pain… That is the pain Ashley will get if I stay…" he then took one of the boy´s hands. "Believe what you wish about Rose… but She cared enough about you to make me put my faith… and my Childe upon you…" _

"_Please my friend… Take care of her…"_

How could he have agreed to this? He was only 20, and absolutely Not, a father figure. And for all he knows, it could be another sick joke from those Ventrue elders. Simply throwing a child at the already downed former rebel.

He dug his face into his palms, still holding the wallet in his hands, not having had the confidence to open it. These days had just passed to quickly. And worse was, he wasn't even allowed off the hook even after delivering the Astrolight. Merqurio had simply told them that he would contact them again when he had new information. That prick.

After a while he turned his head and looked down upon the small kindred in the bed. Once again having taken the only sheet and both had slept fully dressed. He slowly stroked her by the hair. It struck him that he would actually not mind if he was Ashley´s father figure, he had always known he wanted children someday…

He then looked upon the wallet again and rose from the bed, and took off his jacket and shirt. Both of them horribly smeared with blood from the last two days. I bet there is half a dozen blood transmitted diseases on those, he thought before throwing them away into the trash. He then opened the fridge, pulling out the last blood pack. He opened the straw and took a small sip from it before walking back to Ashley, gently poking at her and holding out the blood pack. "Morning Sleepy head… Here… Eat your breakfast, cause after that we are going out shopping."

Ashley was absolutely ecstatic as the door to the shop opened and a world of clothes just appeared before her like a newborn finally opening its eyes. Andreas taken a towel over his shoulders, as to serve as his "Disguise" as a surfer, having even taken a shower beforehand both to wash off any traces of blood off his body, and making his long hair wet, it sticking to his body still dripping slightly. As the two entered a shop assistant came over, a woman in her 30es, and looked towards the two with tired eyes, though having a faint smile on her lips. "Good evening you two, how might I be of service?" She said clasping her hands together and giving a polite bow. Andreas smiled at the woman. "You can me find some clothes for this little bundle of joy. " he said, placing a hand upon Ashley´s shoulder. "I will be fine by myself."

The shop assistant nodded. "As you wish sir." She then looked down and smiled at Ashley. "Now then, Shall we go and have a look?" Ashley nodded vividly and took the shop assistant´s hand. She was up in hyper mode, causing Andreas to give a light chuckle as the two disappeared into the shop. He himself would need to have a look around and find some appropriate clothes. And some to spare was also important.

15 minutes of price checking and scouting different styles of clothes, Andreas had finally gathered a bundle of clothes together and went into the changing Room. He looked at himself in the mirror. It seemed like his reflection had become less visible now. This caused him to sigh slightly. I must be changing rapidly. He thought, making him frown slightly. He then looked down on the clothes. Neither of this was the style he usually had liked. But they had some kind of appeal to him now. He dug into his pocket and pulled out the wallet. I guess now is better than never, he said to himself and then opened it, revealing its content.

As Ashley´s sire had said, there was a few hundred dollars in there, enough to pay for several pairs of cheap clothes, which was quite needed right now. Other than that there were a small red phoenix lapel, the boy smiled as he remembered he was the one to give it to her, and also there was a picture. It was a small one, showing himself and Rose sitting on a bench under the stars. He slowly let his head rest against the changing room wall as he got thoughtful. "Rose… I am not forgiving you… but I am willing to make a few concessions." He thought out loud before placing it in the side of the mirror and began dressing himself. To the surprise of those who had known him before he was embraced, the clothes he had chosen was some nice shirts, a pair of vests and some average looking pants. He had always been fine with T-Shirts and felt that people who wore shirts often were stuffy, but right now, the shirt did fit him quite well. A completely white shirt with a small black vest on the outside, made him actually look, presentable, he thought. He brushed his long golden blond hair aside, so he could see the strange new look he had taken upon himself. He liked it? He began getting images of old time Capitalists from the 18th century dressed in similar outfits. It was actually quite classy. "Well if I have to blend in with the bourgeoisie of the undead, then I might as well do some effort." He chuckled lightly. His hair was still loose and wild, but he liked it that way. Ever since he had begun to let it grow, he liked having that long hair warming his neck and the feeling of it swinging. If he had gotten a penny for every time someone told him to cut that hair, he would own slightly more money than there existed in the world.

After another 20 minutes of trying out clothes, he slowly folded together the clothes he wanted to buy, though he ended up keeping the shirt and vest on, deciding that he would wear this for tonight.

Andreas walked out of the changing room and looked around for traces of his little kindred. He was not able to see her at first but he found the shopping assistant that had helped her at first. This caused him to raise an eyebrow as he walked over to her. "Excuse me; do you know where Ashley is? The little girl I left you with?" He asked her trying not to sound impolite despite the raising concern in his voice. She nodded and pointed in the direction of another section of the shop. "I left her in the children´s section with one of our new employee´s; she is a student of fashion." Andreas nodded lightly at the middle aged assistant. He thanked her and walked in the guided direction. Fashion… A bunch of poppycock if you ask me He thought as he walked through the Iles of clothes, with the ones he had decided to buy himself in a small back so he could easily transport them. Shortly after he felt himself getting pounced and almost pushed to the ground by well-known small arms. Little Ashley had once again caught him in her crushing embrace around his legs, to such a degree that he almost lost his balance. "MISTER ANDREAS! DON'T I LOOK PWETTY!" She yelled, being absolutely ecstatic about the whole endeavor. He looked down to see the small kindred had found herself a dress that reminisced a pair of male overalls but in a more girly fashion with a lighter blue color and a white long-sleeved shirt underneath. She was also wearing some boots that almost got up to her knees but what struck Andreas was she did only have her skirt and her boots to cover her lower half of her body. Of course a child may do as they wish, and it was only pedophiles that were attracted to that, but it made Andreas a bit nervous. He did not really like the idea of skirts as an everyday wear for women; mainly because of the culture he came from where it was not unusual that every single person in a room wore pants. He bit his lower lip a moment; he could see her happiness with the choice of clothes. "It's very beautiful Ashley… But didn't you find something else as well? Something with some pants maybe?"

She nodded her head vividly. "I have!" she said then running around the corner of a clothing stand, holding several tiny dresses for kids, way too early for them. Before Andreas was able to round that corner, to see, she came back with a new pile of clothes, neatly folded, but he could see there were pants among them, and something in his eyes more decent. He smiled lightly. "Very good… Your quite effective little Kin…" he stopped himself before he said Kindred, but then tried to find a fitting way to change his words. Ashley beat him to it though. "Oh it was not me who fwound it… Nice Miss Heather helped me!" She said grinning widely. After that another female voice was raised, but to Andreas´s horror. It was familiar. "Oh I was just doing my Job… Little Ashley really did look…. Look…" she lost her words as she noticed Andreas. The boy was frozen. The red hair and those black spectacles hiding the emerald green eyes behind them, was evidence enough, but her reaction was the final straw. This was the woman from the hospital. She opened her mouth. "You… I remember you… you were at the Hospital…You were the one who saved me-"

"Oh I did no such things, Miss Heather was it?, I simply walked by and brought a doctor along." He said putting on a carefree smile, though he was truly panicking on the inside. The red haired girl shook her head. "No… It was just you… You did something… I… I kissed your wrist… I can still feel my heart pounding harder every time I remember it…" she said, her eyes fixed upon the boy, as if mesmerized. The boy simply shrugged. "I don't really know what you're talking about to be honest Miss Heather… All I did was add some painkillers to you, it was nothing major… Now if you will excuse us, my Daughter and I have some clothes we need to purchase." He said turning around, trying to pull Little Ashley along, but was stopped as Heather grabbed around his wrist. "Wait!" she called out. The boy froze in his steps. "Please Wait, I… I don't know what you did or why but… But you haven't been off of my mind since yesterday… I have been trying to find you… Please just let me talk to you…"

The boy turned and faced her. "You have been released from hospital; you should be out enjoying an evening with your friends, or back home relaxing, thankful that you are still alive… Not out searching for some you THINK have saved you…" he said almost sounding like he was scolding her. Heather looked towards the ground, still holding the boys wrist. "I know… but… I just can't get you out of my mind… I… I think-"

"Save it, it isn't what you think it is… And you would be better off if you forgot me…" Andreas said, ending up sounding harsher than he wanted. He pulled his wrist out of Heather´s grip and turned to Pull Ashley along. The little kindred was not entirely certain of what was going on, but she was sending a slightly jealous glare at Heather. Both of them began went over to pay for their new clothes. There was just enough in the wallet to pay for everything and a bunch of hair bands that Ashley wanted. Andreas gave it no further thought, since he would rather concentrate on getting out of the shop and away from Heather. He felt like that his actions were finally catching up to him. Maybe he should not have saved her life. Now she was after him, thinking that he was some kind of nice man. He turned to exit the shop but Ashley stopped him. "Mister Andreas, will you come down here?" she looked up on him. He kneeled down so he was in eyes height of her. "What is it Ash?" he asked, and then noticed she had a hair band in one of her hands. She then slowly began taking hold of some of the boy's hair. He chuckled a bit. "You want me to put my hair up?" She nodded lightly. "Your hair looks nice, like a lion… but I think it could be nicer…" she said smiling slightly. Andreas took the small hair band and began pulling his hair back, in the end taking all of it and putting the band around it behind his neck. Effectively creating a ponytail.  
>"How's this?" he asked smiling lightly, before Ashley jumped up, swinging her arms around his neck. "Its Pwetty!" She said gleefully. The boy then smiled and rose up, taking both their bags of clothes in one hand and then using the other to Support Ashley that was now hanging from his neck. Little did Andreas know that Heather was still staring at him from inside of the shop. Her heart was still pounding like insane. Everything about him just seemed so perfect, his hair, his smell, his eyes, his loving attention to his Daughter. She just didn't know that these feelings were fuled by his blood, now bubbling in her stomach. Nor that these two, seemingly innocent souls, were actually dead.<p>

Ashley really enjoyed hanging from Andreas´s neck as he held her, His embrace always felt so warm and comforting, despite the fact that both of them were dead cold. It felt soothing, almost as if it was her father holding her again. She just snuggled her face into his chest and closed her eyes, enjoying the comfort.

Andreas was also really happy about being able to hold Ashley like this, but his mind was on other issues, one of them concerning Heather, and the other concerning his growing hunger. He would have to feed properly tonight.

After a while they finally got to the now well-known street to them. The safe-house which was on top of "Trip´s Pawnshop", and only accessible through a small alleyway. The complex itself was rather run down, but good enough to live in, a Perfect place for these two kindred to reside with maximum shielding from the rays of the sun and the dangers of Day.

The two entered the safe house of which they had to see as their home for now. They stored away their new clothes to be used later, except for that they had on. The boy sat down by the table and opened a small black laptop, associated with the house. A small note on his desk told him the Password was "Sunrise". Quite ironic, he thought as he pressed in the letters and accessed the database.  
>"DOS…. Really?" the boy vocalized as the operating system showed itself on the screen.<br>"What, does the Camerilla have some kind of grudge against Microsoft?" he shrugged lightly but then pressed in the commands as he went into the Email.

The mailbox was littered with spam and unimportant messages. He sighed again and slowly began to read the bible sized messages, concerning mainly about how honored him and Ashley were supposed to feel, or what responsibility they now had, or a few spam messages telling males how to increase the size of their members. Ashley was sitting in the bed with the sheet over her again. She loved playing cave in there, and now she had been given the small model car by Merqurio, so she had some kind of toy to occupy herself with. The boy then stopped halfway through reading an Email. "Ashley, Can you read?" He asked, turning to look upon her. She shook her head and gave a light. "Nope!" she said before throwing her attention back upon the Car. Andreas raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you go to school?" He asked, kind of forgetting how young the small kindred actually was. She nodded lightly. "I did… For about…." She slowly counted her hands. She seemed to be thinking quite a bit go wrap her mind around it. "About one Birthday!" she then exclaimed, happy with herself for gaining that result.

"So you never learned to read?" Andreas questioned again to be certain.

"I Know the Alphabet!" She said as she stood up proudly. The Sheet over her back almost making her look like a tiny super hero. A warming smile grew across the boys lips. "Well that's a step in the right direction…" he said leaning back into his chair a bit. He scratched his chin. "Well you most certainly need to learn the basics of Life… Reading, Writing, Mathematics, Geometry, Philosophy, History-" he was stopped as he noticed Ashley was looking upon him like a lam lost to the herd. "What is… Ph…hp… Phillosky?" she questioned.

Andreas smiled a bit sheepishly. "Oh right… Your 5… Well… I guess I'll have to wait with that a bit…"

Ashley looked slightly insulted. "Im not 5! Im 6!" she said, planting her hands into her hips and glared at Andreas. All she earned though was a chuckle. "Allright allright, your 6… But that still means we will have to teach you how to Read and write." He then got a bit of a frown on his face. "But that will mean we will need to get some exorcise books, some utensils and a lot of paper… And the thing is…" he pulled the small wallet out of his pocket and opened it. "We have spent way too much on clothes…" he said looking a bit sheepish. He hadn't really looked at the price tags of their clothes, and though they weren't in the expensive division, then it wasn't cheap either. Now they at most had 20 dollars. "And that's not enough for all the things we need."

Ashley looked up upon the boy, noticing his frown. "So… can't we get more money?" she questioned, still not getting the economics. The boy ran on of his hands through his hair, ending back up in the pony tail. "It isn't that simple…" he was about to continue when a beeping noise came from the laptop. He turned his head and noticed a new Email, From Merqurio no less. He pressed the keys and opened the message.

_To,_

_Andreas_

_There have become some complications with the task associated with your own. Another agent needs to get inside a certain place, and there is only one who can do so. Bertram Tung. _

_But Tung just so happened to be in hiding at the moment. _

"Why that's just dandy…"

_Word on the streets says that Bertram Tung and Therese Vorman are feuding, and Tung has gone underground to save his hide. You will need to speak to Therese about calling off the feud before anything can continue._

Andreas felt like smashing his face into the keyboard. "Why is there always trouble, when something seemed simple?" he questioned before continuing to read.

_Therese and her Sister Jeanette are running "The Asylum" nightclub just a few blocks away from the safe house. A word of warning, don't get on Therese´s bad side. She is THE woman around here. _

_Once Therese calls off the feud, you might be able to get redeemed from the trial. _

The boy more than just normally frustrated. Not only would he have to fetch another stick for someone who was the slightest bit in "Authority" around him, but he also had to meet someone who sounded like Marie Antoinette's evil twin. He was about to close down the laptop when he noticed another part of the Mail. He scrolled down.

_One more Thing, About the Deal I screwed up. If LaCroix finds out, then I'm done for, Please, keep it to yourself. I have a knack for getting people what they need. If you don't say anything then I'll help ya. _

_Signed_

_Merqurio._

Now he had a bit more of a shifting image of Merqurio. Before he thought that he was simply another tool for the Camarilla who knew nothing about what trouble he was in. But he was well aware. It surprised Andreas that the Camarilla would not give their people a second chance. If one just execute people for one mistake then you do not only create great unrest, but also you lose some of the greatest brawns and brains. It takes 5 seconds to cop off a head, but it takes 100 years to find a head that can replace it.

The small kindred looked upon the laptop from the boy's side. "You got Mail?" she asked. He looked down and smiled lightly. "Yes… It seems I got another task from Mister Merqurio…" he said while closing down the laptop, folding it down again and pushed it back over the table. "It seems I will be making an Outing tomorrow night." He said looking down on the small kindred. She beamed a bit. "Then I go with You! We can pway on de way!"

Though the boy liked the idea of Not going alone, he shook his head. "No you don't need to… I am sure it won´t be fun-"

"I wanna come …" she moaned at the boy, making another batch of puppy dog eyes. Andreas let his head drop a moment, shaking his head so even his Pony tail swung by with a force that could take someone´s eye out. "Ashley… Why are you using such underhanded methods?" he smiled lightly at her. "Ok then… you Can come along… but I expect you to behave…"

"I avways behave" she said once again beaming. The boy chuckled lightly. "Of course you do…" he said then rising to his feet. "Come along now… If that's settled, I think we both deserve a meal."

Another one of Ashley's huge sounding "Yay" s sounded in the room as she got exited for them to go out and eat. Andreas shook his head and ignored his feelings about the situation. He better just focus on it as food, he thought as they left out to eat for the evening.

Heather was lying on her couch, simply staring up into the ceiling. She had gotten home from her job and had taken some take-out home to eat. She was extremely tired and actually still sore on her insides from the trip to the hospital the day before, but had insisted that she had to go to work. Her apartment was small but nice, clean, and cheap. But none of this was on her mind. Only her savior was.

He was there today… He was real… When he came first in the hospital she thought she had died and he had come to collect her. But he did not. He saved her. She remembered her lips pressing against his wrist. Feeling like the entire world was gliding into place. Her heart had begun pounding like insane and her wounds felt like they were closing.

Who was he? She questioned. She hadn't even gotten his name. She tried to remember everything she could about him, but it all just seemed, Dreamlike. His golden hair, those blue eyes that seemed like endless oceans, that soothing voice that seemed to be as loving as it could be, and his loving devotion to his daughter, all just so unreal. She then remembered what the little girl called him. "Mister Andreas". She thought about it a moment. Andreas, was he a foreigner? Oh it just resounded in her ears, the name felt beautiful, along with his daughter. Ashley.

A strange taste formed in her mouth. His daughter. He didn't look old enough to have a daughter of that age. She seemed to be about 5 or 6 years old, and he was at most 21. She sat up slightly. Could he have been a teen father? But isn't it usually the teen fathers who leave the teen mothers, and not the other way around? She questioned. Who is the mother of that girl?

A knot tied itself in her throat. Maybe he was taken? Maybe he married early and spurned her because he was being faithful…

That thought pained Heather. It could not be true… He was just too perfect for her to let him slip by.

Her train of thought was interrupted by the sharp ringtone she had on her cellphone. She picked it up, "Hello?" she asked.

"_Heather? Its Stacy… I just wanted to hear how you were feeling."_

"Oh, Hi Stacy." She said sitting herself more comfortably up. "I am feeling fine thank you… It feels so good to be out of the hospital."

"_You don't Say!... You gave us quite a scare there when they told us you had heavy bleeding… Lucky that we got the best quality doctors here in the land Ever." She said sounding a bit giddy. _

Heather shook her head lightly. "I would not put my miraculous recovery upon the doctors…" she said gaining a strange mixture of a frown and a smile thinking of the boy again.

"_Don't tell me you still think it was that "Angel" saving you?" _

"I don't just think it… I know it… I met him today!" she said earnestly. A moment of silence was broken between the two.

"_Seriously?" She asked, a clear sound of doubt in her voice. _

"Yes… He came into the shop this evening with his daughter and-"

"_Woa woa woa, hold your horses… He has a daughter? Are you suddenly into old guys?"_

Heather made a quick "Noou!", exclaiming her disgust with the idea. "He isn't old…. He is twenty at most… He came in wanting to buy some clothes…" She began recalling the happenings at the shop to her female friend on the other end of the phone. She then ended up admitting that she had followed him out of the store, trying to find out where he was going, but was stopped by her supervisor. Stacy then broke in.

"_So, you basically stalked a man you __**think **__saved your life?"_

Heather was taken quite aback. "I did not!" she exclaimed, though on second thought, Stacy was right. She had actually stalked a stranger.

"_Did so… And you know what… From what I hear of your story, I say the guy is taken… I mean he has a Daughter for god's sake…"_

"But…" Heather stopped herself, looking into her lap. She felt like throwing the phone away, but at the same time it was the only comfort in the room. She sighed a bit. "What do you suggests I do then?" she asked, almost pleadingly.

"_I say you take a while to relax… Try and throw him off your mind… Go to some parties, Get hammered… I would originally let you just relax, but do you want to come along with some of the others from the study group tomorrow? We plan on hitting the clubs and then make a little adventure afterwards." _

Heather looked down into her lap a moment and with a sigh let out, "Sure… When will I meet you guys?"

_**AUTHORS NOTE:**_

_**I just realized in this chapter how much I screwed up earlier by describing Heather´s eyes as blue when they are actually green -_- **_

_**But I hope you will forgive me… **_

_**Please Review or just… Read… **_


	5. Chapter 5 Two queens a Princess, a rebel

The next night had sadly arrived and both Andreas and Ashley was now walking down the street towards "The Asylum.". Andreas had kept his new shirt and vest on, and kept Ashley´s suggestion of having his hair in a ponytail. It's actually rather pleasant, he thought as they took a turn in the right direction. Ashley had gotten dressed in one of her new outfits. She had a long sleeved gray shirt on with some new pants, though her shoes remained the same. It was a bit warmer than her normal black thin shirt, but it did not really change much, nor make any difference since heat was not something she had to worry about.

They found their way to "The Asylum" and were met with quite a sorry sight. It was filled with graffiti, and the great big sign with "The Asylum" written on it was both ugly and way too bright for the boy´s liking. It also seemed like the folk outside was, extremely tired, completely hammered or high to some degree. It annoyed Andreas that just lately he seemed to meet about the same kind of folk. Ashley simply looked upon the big ugly building and shrugged, following after Andreas as he opened the door to enter.

Inside was not much better, there were ragged posters, littering the walls of the hallway that lead into the actual club, and already there the loud music could be heard that already made Andreas´s heart sink. Like every club and their dog, they seemed only to play what was popular at the time, no matter how stupid it was. There were lots of humans out dancing, and a few was hanging in the bar.

Before Andreas could compose himself properly, a female voice pierced his eardrums and sent a slight cold down his spine.

"What do we have here? Another scrumptious young plaything, straight out of life and into my club?" The boy turned to see whom the voice belonged to. He was met with the sight of an adult woman, dressed in a schoolgirls outfit. Her huge chest was pressured down into an all too small top and her skirt was too short to be able to hide the entirety of her G-String underwear. Her eyes were each a different color and her bleach blond hair were tied into a pair of pigtails. Black eyeliner and eye shadow was standing in straight contrast to her rose red lips that were clearly making a wicked smirk. She had walked up to Andreas, pressing herself up against him, lightly sniffing the air around him.

"Mmmmm You smell new little boy… Like fabric softener dew on freshly mown Astroturf." Her eyes were clearly showing her mischievous intent and obvious flirting. Andreas was a little taken aback at first, but when he had gotten a good look at her, he mentally sighed. She looked like an absolute slut, not that he usually used that term. If one wanted to dress like that, fine, if one wants to flirt around fine, knock yourself out, he thought.

"Why aren't you a cute little thing" he said, sarcasm hanging in his voice like a bad smell. "May I ask who you are?" he said hoping to move on as he realized Ashley was still there. She was looking up at the woman with slightly confused eyes, but clearly didn't like the closeness of the woman upon Andreas.

The woman gave another smirk. "I'm the finger down your spine when the lights are out, I'm the name on all the men's bedroom walls, When I pout, the entire world tries to make me smile, and everyone wants to know 'Who is that girl'"

The boy was not amused with her smugness**/**self centeredness. "Cute… Do you have a name I can remember you by?"

The woman did not think of her failure, and simply kept her smug smile. "I… Am… Jeanette. And this bit of chaos, crammed in a certified giggle, is my club." She said happily.

The boy's mood lightened slightly. Something's seems to be going his way. "Jeanette? Jeanette Voerman?" he questioned, standing confidently crossing his arms as he got some distance to the pushy Jeanette. He thought he was able to get a normal confident position but was totally undermined when Jeanette squealed a bit and kneeled down to the little Ashley and almost crushed the tiny kindred into her chest, or more precisely her cleavage.

"OHMYGOOOOOD!" She squealed as she grabbed the tiny kindred. "SO CUTE!" she then looked up at Andreas. "Where did you find this Cutie!" she called out at him. Apparently she had something for cute things. It kind of reminded Andreas of those "popular" teenage girls who would dress really slutty before they should, whilst still liking girly things at home. The boy was slightly mortified for the tiny kindred. If she needed air, she would be strangled! He thought.

"I didn't as much find her as she found me-" he was interrupted by another squeal and a crushing embrace around Ashley. She was after a while able to look up at Jeanette.

"Are you my auntie?" she questioned, looking into her eyes, one blue and another green.

Jeanette let out a light giggle. "No Silly… I can be your sister if you want to" She said happily. Ashley shook her head.

"No you can't… You too old…"

Jeanette´s face changed immediately to a more hateful and scornful. It looked like she was about to immediately burst at the tiny kindred. The boy then stepped in.

"Anyways!... Jeanette… We are here on behalf of the Camarilla and need to speak with your sister…" he said, hoping she would be more distracted than angry. He was in luck. She looked upon him and retained her flirting attitude.

"Oh well I might be able to get you an appointment with her…" she then rose to her feet again, placing her hands on her hips. "But what do I get in return?" she said eyeing up the male. The music was pounding in the background, but was pounding well along with the boys head. He did not mind a playful flirt, but this was just not classy. People may do what they wish, he thought, I just keep my sex life within closed doors.

"You get to continue where we left off Kitten." He said giving a playful smirk, hoping it would throw her a curve ball. Jeanette´s tongue slowly caressed her own lips as she purred slightly.

"Well that is sufficient." She said, gesturing for them to follow her. They walked below a stairway and came to an elevator with a single button, pointing upwards. Jeanette was walking slowly and swayed her hips way too much than she should and a few times sending the boy a playful smirk. She pressed the button and turned to them as the door opened. "Now Kitten… You stay here, and I go tell my sister of your arrival… The button will light up when she allows you inside… " She then leaned in to him a bit. "Though I'd do that immediately." She said that smirking. The boy thought it was rather off color, but he guessed he would have to deal with it. He nodded as Jeanette disappeared into the Elevator and it went upstairs. He leaned up the wall and glided down to sit. Ashley was still standing, not certain about too much of what had just happened. She looked down upon the boy.

"Mister Andreas, why was Auntie Jeanette wearing so little clothes?" He looked up at Ashley and considered using the excuse, 'I'll tell you when you get older' but that would be too cruel. She would never go beyond that age… Never physically.

"I think Jeanette just likes wearing some revealing clothes…"

Ashley didn't seem to understand, but was not able to say more before the small "Ding" of the elevator resounded and the doors opened. They both entered, the boy looking for the panel. Only one button, easy choice, he thought and pressed the button to go up.  
>All that sounded in the elevator was the squeaky cogs and pullies that were lifting up the metal box of which they occupied.<p>

As the Ding, sound again emitted into the room, muffled voiced reached their ears, and a small preparing room before the actual office emerged.

"Your City? The last time I checked, it was called Santa-Monica, Not stuck up bitch. " One of the voices resounded. Its higher tone and strange feeling, made it clear that it belonged to Jeanette.

"So vulgar, I can't even get myself to look at you sometimes, you Jezebel!" another voice said. This must be Therese, he thought.

"Oh Therese, your really do pain a flattering portrait of me with your turn-of-the-century barbs. I always assumed you could do nothing but look down on me." Jeanette´s voice said, her smug and taunting tone clear, even through a door.

"Just the sight of you! The sight of that wicked, tainted pout, concealing that dirty diseased mind! Sin! You have no shame…" the other voice called out. Well that was quite harsh, Andreas thought.

A sarcastic laughter resounded from behind the door. "Let she who is without sin cast the fierce tone." Jeanette said, mockingly.

"Go ahead and mock me. You Pull your Pranks, make fun of my ways, it suits you… You're Just one big joke." The voice belonging to Therese said, superiorly.

Jeanette snapped back at her. "Don't you call me that!"

Before she could say more, the same mocking tone Jeanette had used, got into the hands of Therese as she said. "Should I start calling a duck, a pig as well?"

Jeanette suddenly turned around, her voice sounding very hurt. "I'm your Sister! How can you Treat me like this?" resounded before the sound of a door smashing shut was heard from beyond the door that Andreas and Ashley was looking at. Therese´s voice sounded again.

"That's it Jeanette, Run away from the truth. I'll take care of everything as always." Andreas did not have high hopes for this meeting from the get go.

Andreas gently knocked on the door before entering. "Please, Come inside. I do apologize for my sister's crassness if it made you uncomfortable."

Says you, Andreas wanted to reply, but simply shook his head. "Oh she was no trouble… " he said calmly. He slowly observed the woman before him. She had the same bleach blond hair like her sister, and her eyes was also different colours, but her clothes were much more dignified, and stuffy. She was wearing a fine dark gray suit like outfit, with a nice long skirt, making her look like some kind of CEO of a company. Her hair was even tied up in a bun, and she had simple business glasses, and even her makeup was put on professionally. All seemed nice, but at the same time too nice. Everyone Andreas had met in that outfit, were either a Bourgeoisie of some kind or one of Rose´s fellow Ventrue. A knot tied itself in the boy's throat a moment but was broken out of his thinking as Therese huffed.

"Nonsense, she is nothing but." She said, arrogantly, causing Andreas to shrug his shoulders. "Well I have met worse…" he said, getting a short view of the room. It was split into two, with some blinders to be the border of the room. On the side they were at, the room was decorated like a clear boss office. There was a great comfortable office chair on one side of the desk, and the other there were two chairs, clearly used for meetings. This meeting however seemed to be less formal. The other side of the room was more decorated like a strange apartment. A heart shaped bed, and a heart shaped mirror. All In bright red and pinkish colors. It seemed like both the sisters used this room, each for their own business. The boy snapped back to reality and looked back at Therese the moment she replied.

Therese smiled darkly. "I am sure of that… Certainly, even in your short unlife as a Ventrue you have had to deal with all sorts of riff raff… So… What brings you to my club?" she asked, only giving Ashley a light glance as she puts emphasis on 'riff raff'. Andreas then nodded and looked upon Therese.

"We need you to call off your feud with Bertram Tung." He said calmly, though his message caused Therese to raise an eyebrow.

"And why would I do that? He is an inconvenience to my business and a bad influence on my sister… I'd rather have him hiding out than able to act. Let him think I mean to kill him… that way he at least can't bother my business."

Andreas crossed his arms. "Well that is a problem, because we need to contact him, and he is out of reach as long as he thinks you want to kill him… So we are at a bit of a disagreement here…" he said casually looking upon her. She then seemed to be thinking of something.

"Hmmm I might be tempted to send out word that my grievances with Tung have been settled… But I need something in return."

Something in return… What the fuck is this, Fetch-quest-onisia? Andreas thought, but nodded. "Well I guess it's only fair**.** Favor for a favor right?" he said, though he did not like it at all.

Therese gave a light self-confident smile. "Oh yes, and let me tell you, apart from so many around here, you will find dealing with me to be a pleasant business. I am always fair to my partners."

"And cruel to your enemies I take it?" The boy questioned, gaining a nod from Therese before she moved on.

"Now, Tung messed up one of my deals for a crucial piece of property, but I have another venture in my sights, the "Ocean House Hotel" which suffered a fire accident a few years back. I bought it here a few weeks ago and paid for it to be restored, but now the construction workers have run into… A problem." She said, crossing her arms.

"A problem? What kind of problem?"

"A Ghost…" Therese Said, causing the boy´s head to tilt to one side.

"Are you now going to tell me that Ghosts are real too?" Andreas asked his arms still crossed, feeling like he was being played for a fool. Therese gave an exasperated sigh; despite she needed not to breathe.

"Right, you are new to this… Yes Ghosts are real… As are zombies, mummies and many other things I haven't seen share the night with us are properly real as well."

Andreas rubbed one of his temples and cl5osed his eyes. "God fucking damn it." He cursed below his breath, causing Ashley to place an elbow into his thigh. He looked down at her small angered face and sent her a small smile. "I know I know… Potty mouth…" He said lowly to her, causing her to smile again and she looked up at Therese. She walked a bit forward. "Den… How we fwight ghostie?" she asked Therese. Therese only sent a slight glare down at Ashley, and discretely tried to increase the distance between her and the Gangrel 'mutt' as she thought.

"You don't… Ghosts are perfectly harmless; they mainly just try to spook you… However, it is said that a personal item can be used to exorcise the spirit." She said calmly, her eyes more resting upon Andreas, almost pretending Ashley did not exist. She did so until Ashley walked up to her, Pulled a bit at her skirt going "Are YOU my auntie den?" Therese´s eyes shot open and she pulled her skirt to herself. "Most Certainly NOT!" she cut Ashley off. "I am in NO way Related to you, Little Girl!" she said, her insulted tone of voice clearly shining through. Andreas gave Therese a light glare, but walked forward, pulling Ashley back, protectively. "So you want us to go to this hotel, find a personal item of the Ghost, and then bring it back here, correct?"

"Correct" Therese confirmed.

"And then you will call off the feud?" Andreas asked to be sure. Therese nodded.

"Once I have that item, I will be glad to tell Tung that I have other more important things on my mind than having him dead." She said smiling smugly.

Andreas nodded at Therese. "I see… We will be off then-"

"Wait…" Therese interrupted. "You will need this key, the only way down to the Hotel at this time of night, is through the sewers…"

"Why that is just… Fecking dandy…" the boy said slightly annoyed but turned to take the key. He looked down and gestured for Ashley to follow. "Come along Ash… seems like we have a long night ahead of us."

Ashley looked back at Therese a moment, wondering why the woman had been so angry but just followed after Andreas. Jumping slightly as she took his hand and they left the office, leaving Therese behind. She sat down by her desk, resting her elbows on the table and putting her hands together. "That fledgling… perhaps I can use him in some way… If I can just get that pesky mutt off of him…" she said for herself mumbling a moment, then looked towards the bathroom door, wondering if her sister should come out soon.

Heather was wearing her usual casual clothes, despite the evening, as booze and the warmth of the different disco´s had done well to make her sweat. She was standing outside on a form of porch where she was leaning up a railing, looking up towards the moon with her own emerald eyes. She was still obsessed with the boy. It pained her. Even with the amount of booze she had taken up to that point, the moon still reminded her of him. Its mystical shine, its pale complexion and yet so beautiful to look at. Her thoughts were interrupted by an almost as drunk Stacy came and placed an elbow in her side. "There you are**,** ya party pooper… What you doing out here? You should be enjoying yourself… your alive!" she said, her voice out of sync a moment, though that made her realize she maybe should leave that beer she had at hand, somewhere else. Heather just lowered her head.

"I just… Don't really feel like it…" she said sounding a bit depressed. Stacy was one of Heather´s friends from her fashion studies and she was always cheerful. She had nice brown eyes that almost completely matched her hair. Her clothes was about as simple as Heathers, however she also had a thing for dangling small charms from her pants, and had a few wristbands, some supposed to be Indian ones, others just being old ones she got form parties or from old boyfriends. She looked upon Heather. "Come now, don't tell me you're thinking of that boy again? I told you to forget about him…" she said giving an exasperated sigh. Heather looked up at her friend.

"I Know but… I just can't… He is always on my mind…" she said frowning. Stacy clasped her hands together.

"I tell you what you need girl… you need some excitement… You just got out from an accident, and your adrenaline level is high, how about we give you another boost of that?" she said enthusiastically. Heather shrugged her shoulders and turned to her friend.

"I guess… but what do you have in mind?" Stacy smirked greatly, leaning in to her, holding up her hand as if she was about to tell a big secret. "Did you know there is a place that's haunted in Santa Monica?"

The great old Ocean house hotel was like its name straight out by the ocean, with a great and beautiful view. The night was without any clouds and the stars were out and shining. The area was mainly just sand, dirt and rock if not for the interruption of human civilization. The evening breeze was at first the only thing that could break this perfect calm evening. Until…

The loud clank of the manhole cover being removed would have woken even the most determined sleeper, as the large chunk of stainless steel allowed itself be freed and land on the ground. Small hands reached the sides of the manhole and the tiny kindred crawled out of the hole she had just removed the cover from. She stood up, smiling proudly at her achievement. She then reached down her hand and grabbed around her guardian´s wrist and pulled him up like if he was a small paper bag. She just placed him down besides her and then closed the manhole again. "Dere we go! See Mister Andreas! Dats No Pwoblem!" she said, standing proudly, her hands placed upon her sides. The boy was standing just staring upon her a moment. He then looked around before going. "Very well done Ashley… Very well done indeed… Don't tell anyone ok…" he quickly said the last, as the embarrassment was clear on his face, despite his inability to blush. He had just had to give up, moving a manhole cover to a 5 year old, and was pulled up like a paper bag. The little kindred smiled broadly, making small sewing motions over her mouth. "Don't wowy Mister Andreas! Your Sequet is safe wid Me!" she said ecstatically.

Both of them turned to look upon the massive building before them. The sign with the great letters 'Ocean House Hotel' was badly run down, and a few of the letters were missing. It was about 3 stories high and seemed to have Greek inspiration as it had several pillars supporting it, like old Greek temples had. A wolf was howling in the distance and a horrible wind began to blow. It could only get more cliché if there also was rain and lightening, Andreas thought before beginning to walk up to the house. They walked past several abandoned building materials and tools, seeming to have been dropped on a VERY short notice. I guess Therese did not mention that the crews were literally scared away. He thought to himself before they reached the door. He did not see it, but the tiny kindred behind him was not comfortable. She was actually intimidated by the scenery. However she was also stubborn, and pressed on right behind Mister Andreas all the way to the door.

The door seemed to be made of mahogany wood or something of that quality, it was almost undamaged, despite the burns that was clear. There were beautiful carvings upon the door, like something of the former century. The boy reached for the handle on the door, finding out that it was locked. "Huh, that's inconvenient." He thought out loud, before a lamp that was right besides the door blew up. The sudden crash startled Andreas a moment, but he composed himself immediately as he realized it was just a light bulb. He then put his attention back to the door. The small kindred behind him however was not amused with the situation. She looked up at Mister Andreas, seeing as the door was locked she gently pushed at him.

"Please move Mister Andreas." She said lowly, able to hide her nervous disposition. She then charged at the door and kicked at the lock, causing it to break neatly. The doors swung open, revealing the great meeting hall of the hotel. Andreas smirked slightly at the small kindred.

"Who needs a locksmith?" he said in jest before entering the great hall. It was in quite a horrible state, spider webs in many places and the burns was just as clear inside here. Strangely enough, much of the furniture was still in some ways intact, and there were still picture frames with small pictures inside of them. Over their heads a huge chandelier was hanging**,** ominously filled with spider webs and old electric lights. The boy took a few steps inside, assessing the area, before walking over to check at the desk for check ins first. "Huh… Nothing here." He said. "We better just start looking" he called back at the little kindred, who was still standing in the doorway. She was really having trouble getting inside this building. She took a few steps, her eyes scanning the area around. She looked more towards the upper floor, which was connected to this with arching staircases, one in each side, both nicely rounded. She just looked around on the place, not liking it one itty bit. Mister Andreas did not really focus much on the strange atmosphere, he had never believed in ghosts when he was alive, and it would really take some convincing to make him believe in it in death. He walked over to the stairs, looking at the space in between their arches, where there was a sitting area, with a few lamps, some nice chairs, and a charred up newspaper. He walked over seeing if he could make anything out from the paper. The clear Headline of "Ocean Hotel Opened!" was about what he was able to make out before he began hearing something rustling. He looked up, not being able to see anything. He then looked back at Ashley.

"Little kindred are you touching anything?" he asked her, though noticing she was just standing in the middle of the hall, feverishly shaking her head, he shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps I'm just hearing things the-" he was not able to say anymore before he felt the sharp pain of something crashing into his face. He fell backwards onto the floor, landing on his behind, holding his hands against his face exclaiming loudly in pain.

"Ow! What the hell?" he looked up to see a broken lamp on the floor. He then looked about. No one except him and Ashley. So no one could have thrown that. Ashley behind him took a few steps forwards. "You Ok Mister Andreas? " She asked before another rustling sound began. Andreas looked behind him to see the chandelier over Ashley's head was moving. He could not believe his own eyes, but he reacted fast and just yelled "Run Ashley!" just as the chandeliers chain snapped. Ashley looked up to see the large chunk of metal just crashing towards her and she within a split second just made a jump of inhuman power, away from the landing area of the large chunk of metal. She panted feverishly to calm herself, despite her lack of a need for air. Ashley had jumped up to the bottom of the stairs. Andreas breathed a relieved sigh as he saw Ashley was fine. He slowly rose to his feet, looking over at Ashley. "I think we better get to search the rooms. Will you take upstairs?" he asked her, still holding his hand against his face, though it had not made any actual damage on him, it still hurt. Ashley did not even waste the time to nod, she just turned and walked up the squeaky wooden stairs. The boy looked up at her. "Wait a Second Ash, Be sure to be carefu-" he was not able to say more before the horrible sound of wood giving in, resounded in the area, as the steps gave in under the weight of the tiny Kindred.

"ASHLEY!" the boy shrieked out and ran towards the stairs. All He was able to see was his little kindred disappear into the stairs, with a long and frightened scream. Her childish voice did not help at all. There was a great hole in the stairway now, seeming to lead all the way down to the Cellar. The boy looked down and saw his little kindred down there. She was lying lifeless on the floor, causing The boy´s face to turn almost completely white. Without a second thought he just stepped off into the nothing of the former stairwell, and crashed towards the cellar where Ashley was. His new kindred body, made it easy for him to land on his feet, and it almost felt like there was no recoil at all as he hit the floor. He immediately threw himself down and begun shaking the small kindred. "Ashley!... Ashley Wake up!... You're not supposed to sleep now!" he called at her, his voice getting slightly frantic. The small kindred closed her eyes tightly, and small moans of pain came from the tiny kindred. The boy sighed in relief. "Oh thank god…."

"Owie…." Was the first word that came from that small kindred. "Dat was loooong…." She frowned slightly, seeming just uneasy as she opened her eyes. The boy smiled reassuringly at her, but before he could say anything, a Shriek was heard from somewhere in the building. It was a woman, clearly screaming out of fear. A chill ran down the boys Spine, and to his surprise, the small kindred tackled into him, embracing him around his stomach, just holding him and. But only for a moment. She was able to compose herself quickly, but she still held around the boy.

"M-mister Andreas…. Can we go out now?" she asked, her voice low, trying her best to hide her terror of this place. The boy looked down upon her. There was something about her holding him, which sparked something in his head heart. He gently put his arms around her, and let one hand stroke her by the hair. He lowly made some reassuring words, though they weren't English, but the point was more just the tone of voice. "Så så så så så…"

He looked down upon her again. "Well get out of there as soon as possible." He said his voice almost as a father would be to his daughter. Perhaps I should just… Begin to see it like that? He thought. I promised her sire after all…. He lifted up her head, looking into her sweet small green eyes with his own Ocean blue ones. "Let's Get moving Ashley…"


	6. Chapter 6  Corridors of Steriotypes

Heather looked around the strange cellar as she heard the large crash. She was down into the cellar of the "Haunted place" that Stacy had mentioned. It was already making her blood pumping, and she had already heard not one, but two screams. She was down there with Stacy and two guys that they both knew, Thomas, or Tom as he would rather be called, and Eric, Or Eddie as he was known.

Thomas was an old friend of them both from their neighborhood. They all lived a bit outside Santa Monica, but it was mainly in Santa Monica that they hung out. He was a tall brown haired boy of average muscular structure, nothing really extraordinary about him, he was lovely to hang out with a late night, as he seemed always to have time, and always could lighten the mood. However here, the brown eyed lad felt everything just as heart pumping as Heather did, he had never been one for scary places. He was just wearing some average clothes with a T-Shirt with the writing "Pickled Dick" on it, with a small demon in the background.

Eddie on the other hand was ecstatic, him along with Stacy, liked the danger, fear and other factors that had created the mood in the cellar. He was a darker haired fellow than Tom, but he had pretty much the same eyes. His clothes were nothing to praise either. He was wearing low hanging pants, and a cap that was just sideways put on. He was a heavy smoker, drinker, and did not really care whatever was on the radio, or who was listening to it, he was the type that just turned it over, in case Eminem or Snoop dog was on. He was a giddy fellow and really had the hots for Stacy, but they just mainly kept their relations to, party friends, and sometimes, Friends with benefits.

They were all walking down the gray, weathered down hallways, of which they had entered via a back entrance. Eddy had brought along a crowbar and just broken the door lock. Tom shook his head in disbelief of Eddie´s behavior, but had said nothing about it. Stacy walked up to Heather, smiling at her while being extremely giddy.

"So? How are you now Princess?" she smirked. Heather gave her a light glance before looking down the hallways that seemed to stretch in all kinds of different directions.

"I'm occupied to say the Least… My heart is beating like a drum…" she said honestly, before looking back at Stacy. "But I really Think we should get out of here…" she said really worried. Stacy just giggled.

"What? Scared already? Come on you party Pooper, now we got here, let's explore… Perhaps we find the body of a Former attendant" the last part she said, her voice dark but at the same time almost with a childlike glee. Heather just shook her head.

"It's not funny Stacy…" she said lowly. Stacy then just walked up in front of her.

"Oh it is funny!... Right guys!" she asked at the two boys. Tom walked up next to Heather and placed a hand on her shoulder.  
>"It's funny, but if Heather wants to leave, she can do that… We ARE doing this to party with her aren't we Stacy?" he smirked, while putting emphasis on Are, whilst looking at the brown haired woman. He received a light smile from the red headed Heather before Eddie came in.<p>

"But! Since we are already here… We might as well Loot the place…" he said without a hint of shame in his voice. Everybody was holding flashlights as the halls were dark and ominous. But suddenly they were lit up. All the lights in the ceiling lit up, and the sound of the hotel energy running could be heard. Everyone looked at each other a moment. Heather spoke first.

"Do you guys know of anyone else in here?" Everyone shook their heads, causing Heather and Tom to get a bit nervous, whilst it only made Eddie and Stacy giddier.

"Perhaps it the ghost turning the power on… ooooooooOOohhh…" Eddie said, creeping up on Heather, poking at her with his fingers on ticklish spots, causing her to let out a small "Ih!" sound. She turned around and punched him on the shoulder, only making him to laugh harder though. Heather gave out a sigh of frustration.

"Let's just keep going then… If you wanna loot the place, Fine, let's just be quick about it…" she said rather annoyed as she shut off her flashlight and walked ahead. The others right behind her.

The group got through the halls, finally finding an elevator that seemed to work. They pressed the button, but the door would not open. Heather threw up her hands. "Well this is just great…" she said being rather annoyed, just taking another turn. She had become more and more frustrated as she had been dragged along. Tom reached out after her as she walked down the hall.

"Where are you going?" Heather simply called back.

"I'm leaving here… I don't want to be in this place anymore…" She said rather annoyed, taking the first door she thought would lead outside. She opened it to see that it inside was a kitchen however. It was still filled with all the utensils to cook for an army. She took a few steps inside, looking around. This could actually have been a nice place to make food, she thought to herself. Then a loud clank and the clicking sound of a lock resounded behind her. She turned to see the door had closed. He tried to open it again, but it was locked. She sighed in frustration again.

"Very Funny Guys!... Now let me out Please…." She called beyond the door. Nothing happened. She then tried calling again. And Again. And Again… She began pulling at the door as she became slightly frantic.

"Guys, this isn't funny anymore!" she called out, but still no reply. She quickly turned as the screeching sound of metal moving against metal was heard. She looked into the kitchen and saw nothing at first. "Hello?" she called out. The screeching continued for about a minute and then came to a sudden halt. Now it was replaced by a small tapping noise. Like something small was tapping against metal. Heather walked more into the kitchen. She saw in the corner there was a food elevator. The tapping sound came from there. She looked a bit to her sides, a moment too nervous to actually open it, before she gripped the metal opening and pulled it away, and was immediately tackled by a small Child.

"FANK WOO! WAS SCAWY IN DERE!" the kid almost screamed as she tackled the red haired adult. "Whoa… take it easy…" she said looking down upon the child, and almost immediately recognizing her. "Ashley?"

The small kindred looked upon the human. "Oh, Missie Heather? Whut you doin here?" Heather raised an eyebrow.

"What am I doing here? What are YOU doing here? What is a Child doing here?" She wanted to ask more but then heard a small muffled sound. It sounded like a voice, once again coming from the food elevator. She walked over to it, pressing the button for "Maintenance repair" that caused it to lower itself further, so all the mechanics could be examined. She looked up through the shaft and noticed a Face she had been craving for. It was the boy.

"ASHLEY! ARE YOU OK!" He was calling down into the shaft before noticing Heather´s face. He was more than mildly surprised.

"Miss Heather? What are you doing here? And where is Ashley!" he asked almost a harsh tone of voice, until the little kindred stuck her head through and waved up at Her Guardian.

"I'm Here Mister Andreas!" she called at him. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good God… Ash what was it I told you about Being Careful!" he called down at her, causing Ashley to frown. "BUT IT WAS AN EWIVATOR!" She said, sounding like it was an actual good excuse.

This just seemed too good to be true. She had had these two on her mind the entire evening, her friends had even brought her to a fucking ghost house to make her forget them, and they just show up out of the blue. She looked down at Ashley again, seeing that she was wearing some of the clothes they had just bought yesterday, but it was already filled with signs of intensive use. There were dust and dirt all over and almost seems like she had fallen through a floor or something. Heather looked into the shaft once again. The boy was on his way down actually. He had placed himself into the little shaft and placed his back against the wall, slowly gliding down the shaft, until he was far down enough to just let go and land on his feet. He slowly crawled out the shaft, and dusted his clothes off real quick, before he embraced his daughter.  
>"Ashley, Don't Run off like that again…" he said to her almost scolding, but his voice was calm. The little girl looked up with her small green eyes.<p>

"B-b-b-b-but it was scawy and it was an ewivator…" She said, her voice childishly apologetic and returned the hug.

Heather stared down upon the boy. Her heart was pounding again and it felt like something was bubbling on the inside. She snapped out of it when the boy looked upon her.

"Thanks For helping Ashley…" He said smiling lightly at her, but his serious face returned as he rose up to his normal height. "But may I Ask what you are doing here? If I know correct then this is private property. The boy wanted to bite his own tongue over for saying that. He had violated that rule countless times through his life and now he was condemning someone else. Heather just shot the look back.

"What are YOU, doing here?" she asked, but the boy just shook his head.

"Don't be smug, I have authorization from the owner of this place, And If you work for her as well, then she has been so kind as not to mention it…" he said, sounding rather annoyed. The two continued to bicker between each other. Andreas tried to make it seem completely normal that he was there, and Heather just didn't want to leave. Neither of them noticed Ashley walking around in the kitchen. She was examining the room and taking in the gray and old run down, Restaurant style kitchen. In one half of the room there was a metal shelving arrangement, with knives, pots, and pans littering around. She slowly moved some of the metal pans, and noticed a small red book behind it. She opened it and to her dismay found there were no pictures in it. "Awww…" she exclaimed in disappointment. She looked back at Heather and Mister Andreas. She then walked over and pulled at Mister Andreas´s sleeve, making him break the bickering between him and Heather.

"What is it Ashley?" he asked, his face almost instantly turning calm as he looked down upon the little kindred. He was able to turn his mood rather fast when it came to children. Ashley lifted up the book.

"Dere is no pictures… Can you wead it?" she asked, failing on the word Read. It came as a small shocker for Andreas. He had once again forgotten that she was so young and could not read.

"You can't read?" he asked her lowly, causing Heather to raise an eyebrow, she still being a bit annoyed. "You don't even know if your own daughter can Read?"  
>The boy cursed below his breath a moment as he realized he just failed his own little act in front of the human. He decided to focus upon Ashley and opened the book so she could see as well. He read a bit through the book, and his eyes widened.<p>

"What is it?" Heather asked, seeming rather annoyed that the boy was more focused on a book than the argument they just had. He shook his head.

"No wonder someone would become a Ghost after this…." He said sighing. This caused Heather to raise an eyebrow again.

"What?" the boy then rose up showing her the open diary.

"This is apparently the diary of the last woman who rented a room here… She did so with her husband and her two children… But apparently the Husband was quite Jealous and ended up killing both Her and the children…" he said causing Heathers face to whiten.

"What? How do you know that?" The boy went through a few pages, trying to find a special place while explaining. "Ashley and I found several newspapers about the story of this place… The last the police found out was that it was possibly a murder suicide and that a Child was, quote; chopped up like firewood; end quote…" Heather gasped lowly.

"My god…" the boy then stopped at a specific page.

"And Then there is this…" he said, showing the page. It was clearly written in an extreme hurry, and the small smears upon the page were not in any way comforting. The boy then began to read aloud.

"Oh God… I came down finding Harry smeared with blood holding an axe… Oh My god Help me…

He is coming…." Ended both the boy and A Cold eerie voice that just came out of the blue. All of them looked around franticly, trying to find the source of the sound. Suddenly everything began rustling. The pots and pans began moving, the oven doors slammed open and all objects seemed like possessed. The sound of Large Kitchen knives clinging against each other were not any more comforting. The boy immediately dropped the diary on the floor and yelled out. "Get down!" He got just to say that before about 5 different kinds of pots was flung towards them by some unseen force. Heather ducked immediately and so did the boy. Ashley was lucky enough to be small enough to just hide behind one of the counters. The pans flew past all of their heads and slammed into the wall, actually causing tiny cracks in the walls, and totally ruining themselves for any future use. Heather was panting at this stage. This was real; a ghost was trying to kill them. Her and the boy crawled over to the cover where Ashley were hidden as more and more inanimate objects began to fling themselves across the room.

"Why the fuck is it flinging things at us?" the boy said as he looked around, narrowly dodging a meat clever, that flew by. Ashley clung herself up to the boy.

"GHOSTIE IS MEAN! I WANT OUT!" She almost screamed, again giving one of her crushing hugs. Heather looked around for an exit. "But all the doors are locked!"

They all then heard an extremely loud sound of metal and metal meeting. They looked over to the corner to see one of the doors had been hit once. One of its hinges had been destroyed.

"That's our Ticket!" The boy yelled and put his one arm around Ashley, picking her up, while the other he took Heather´s hand and dragged them both over to the door. The door got hit once again before they got there. The Other hinge was as good as destroyed. The boy just ran up, placing a forceful kick upon the area of the lock. As almost nothing held it back now, the great metal door just smashed to the floor and the passage was clear. They all ran inside, only to their dismay see that it was a storage room. Ashley pulled a bit of Andreas´s hair and then pointed in the direction of the end of the room. There was an air vent.

"Better than nothing!" he exclaimed before dragging them both over to the air vent. He put Ashley down though she was still clinging to his leg, and ripped off the steel grates from the vent like if it was rotten wood. Heather was stunned by this apparently normal person, which seemed to harbor such strength. The boy then lifted up Ashley helping her into the Vent, despite her protests.  
>"But Its Scawy!-" the boy just hugged her once.<p>

"Don't worry Ash… I'll be right behind you… Just go in there now…" he said, then looking behind him. More and more utensils had made its way into the storage room. Even some of the shelving was being tipped over and began flying vaguely in their direction. He then grabbed around Heather.  
>"Sorry Miss Heather, but you will have to get in there." He said forcing her into the vent before she could even consider protesting. Heather looked back and saw the utensils were getting more and more precise, they begun hitting the outer rim of the vent, and the boy was beginning to actively dodging the flying pans, knifes and shelving. He lifted up the grate and began even blocking some of the knifes, that ended up getting stuck through his metal 'shield'. The boy looked back and yelled at her.<p>

"What are you mucking around for? Crawl you Muppet!" he yelled before getting a pan hit straight into the face, almost flattening his face a moment, cartoon comedy style. Heather tried to turn, but the vent was too small, and she saw Ashley was feverishly crawling forwards. She could not just abandon either of them, but she knew that if she abandoned Ashley, the boy would never forgive her. She crawled after her, the sounds of battle beginning to fade as she heard the same eerie voice from before.

"Beeeeeeee Carefuuuulllllllll….." the voice definitely female and dragged out.

Why would it tell her to be Careful? She thought. It was trying to kill them at the moment. Finally some red light came at the end of the vent. She slowly crawled out, only to realize she and Ashley were standing in an elevator shaft. Little Ashley was clinging to the maintenance ladder within the 'Safety lines'. She was looking pleadingly upon Heather.

"Where Mister Andreas? Did Ghosty Get him?" she said almost sounding like she wanted to cry. Heather looked back a moment into the vent. She heard nothing. She sighed a moment but smiled at Ashley.

"Don't worry, He will be back in a moment…" she wanted to reassure the child, but the voice Returned.

"He is coming!"

Suddenly the sound of shrieking metal resounded as three floors above her; an elevator seemed to lose its bracing and was now dropping towards Heather with the great speed of gravity. For some reason, Heather did not move. It was like she was paralyzed as she saw clear death charging down towards her. Time seemed to slow for her as the elevator was less than two meters away from her head. Is this the end? She asked herself, and closed her eyes. She expected to feel the embrace of death, but what she felt was the crushing feeling of a rugby tackle that sent her and the attacker into the safe area before the elevator smashed onto the concrete floor. She panted a moment as she opened her eyes to see the boy lying on top of her. He had pushed her out of the way.

"You… Saved me… " she said lowly looking into those orbs that seemed to have entranced her. The boy just sighed in relief and rose to his feet again.

"Who wouldn't?" he just said calmly helping her up on her feet. She kept staring him in the eyes.

"That's the second time you saved my life…" she said sincerely, but the boy waved a hand dismissively.

"I already told you I only sent in a Nurse before… Now how about we get you Out of here before more inanimate objects attempt to kill us?" he said wanting to move on, but was stopped by Ashley that Gleefully Hugged him around the legs.

"YOUR OK!" She said ecstatically. He just smiled and picked her up.

"Did you think I would Die that Easy?" he chuckled, before helping her up on top of the elevator. "Now we better get moving-" Heather then interrupted the boy, realizing something.

"Wait a Second! If there is this Ghost and it's trying to kill us… What will happened to Tom, Eddie and Stacy?" The boy turned and raised an eyebrow.

"You brought people here?" he asked. "Why on earth did you do that?" She then shook her head.

"More like they dragged me along here… They thought they would celebrate me leaving the hospital, by taking me on a night of the town..." She then tried to make a comeback at the boy. "And your one to talk! You brought your Daughter along! What were you thinking?-" Heather stopped as she noticed the boy had just begun climbing up the ladder. "Hey! Are you at all listening to me!" she snapped at him before catching his eyes as he looked down from the ladder and gestured for her to be quiet. She stared up into the ocean blue orbs, unknowingly, the blood kicking in, and her mind seemed to just calm again. His beauty seemed to just stun her again.

"Can you hear that?" he asked, Heather just dazed. "Oh I he- What?"

"Can you hear that?" the boy repeated. Heather looked around a bit, realizing there was a tiny sound, like something enclosed. Heather could not make out what it was until Little Ashley just exclaimed "Humans!" she said ecstatically.

"Humans?" Heather asked, at first just confused about her choice of words, but then it hit her. "Humans! I could be Stacy and the boys!" She exclaimed, and as she did, she heard the sound getting a bit more intense. Suddenly, banging sounds were heard from somewhere. All their heads turned and looked upon the Elevator.

"Their inside the Lift?" the boy asked, before he stepped off the ladder and onto the elevator. Heather and Ashley both followed suit and all of them were standing on top of the large metal container, from in which the loud banging would be heard. The boy looked around the top of the metal box.

"Whatcha doin?" Ashley asked, standing over next to the boy as he bended down, knocking a few times on the box. He then looked up at the small girl. "Every Lift usually has a form of fire escape. They are mainly in the top of the box…" he explained, as he leaned his ear down to listen to the box as he knocked on the metal.

"Now… If I could just fin-OUghgsf" He was completely cut off, when one of the just about 1x1 meter metal plates were violently lifted up from the lift metal. It smacked the boy straight in the face, once again flattening his face, and sent onto his behind rubbing his face in pain. The metal plate moved to the side and a pair of brown eyes with a sideways worn baseball cap emerged.

"That was Fucking Dope! The Entire thing must have fallen 5 stories…" he said as he looked around. He first noticed his friend. "Heather! I knew you would not leave the fun!" He said grinning widely, before he lifted himself up, through the small hole and then let his eyes fall upon the boy and the little girl. The girl was giggling a bit as it was quite comically timed with the metal to hit against the boy. He was sulking a moment as he rubbed his face, but he then glared up at the Cap wearer.

"Why thank you for the warm welcome, ya prick…" he said slowly getting up to his feet again. His more European accent caused Eddie to just burst out laughing.

"What The Fuck are you saying Dude? Repeat that!" he said pointing at him. The boy let out a little growl of frustration. Heather just ran up and hugged Eddie.

"Eddie! You're alive! How about Stacy and Tom?" she asked.

"We are ok!" voices resounded from the open hole in the Elevator. Eddie stepped over to the hole and reached down his hand, helping up Stacy first, and then helped up Tom. Neither of them seemed like they were much affected by the situation, but they immediately noticed how ruffled Heather´s hair was.  
>"Heather, what did you do to your Hair Girl?" Eddie said, his voice almost as mock stereotype as the dealer that Ashley´s sire ended, only three days ago. The boy was still rubbing his face a bit; it had luckily not made a bruise that would not heal up neatly and discretely. He noticed however that Stacy was staring at him a moment. Heather shrugs her shoulders a bit.<p>

"Well Excuse me for not looking like a Fashion designer whilst fleeing for my life!" she said, her voice clear with frustration. The boy then thought of something as he looked over the group.

"Wait a Minute… How are you three Ok? Anyone falling with a lift like that should be Raspberry Jam by now… or at least get a broken leg" he pointed out. Tom looked over at the boy. "We weren't inside the Elevator when it fell… The doors just opened as it fell and we walked inside… But the doors closed again and we could not get out…" he pointed out. The boy then raised an eyebrow, before looking down into the Box. As Tom had said, the doors were completely shut. The boy was hanging head down; his pony tail was still bound up and was thus dangling from his head, now upside down. When he pulled his head up again a bit, then someone pulled at his Pony tail. He fell back over and looked up at the culprit, being Eddie.

"Oi! Would you stop that?" the boy snapped at him. Eddie just laughed. "Dude, You r Talking like a sissy!" he said while laughing cheekily. The boy just glared at him a moment.

"What On earth are you talking about?" he said, not thinking over the point that he was European, so his voice was influenced by his Nordic accent and the closer British isles. Ashley was standing beside the boy but was actually also laughing a moment, as the boys voice began sounding more Shriek like British as he got more and more annoyed at Eddie. The boy was snapping a bit at Eddie and ranting in his face while Eddie and Ashley were laughing at him. In the background, Heather was standing and looking at the scene until Tom and Stacy came over to her.

"Heather… are you Ok? What happened? You just disappeared from us…" Stacy asked rather worried.

"I'm alright… I was lucky enough to be saved again…." Heather said, looking over at the boy again. Stacy immediately caught this. She grinned and pulled her into a hug a bit.

"See Girl? I told you, you would forget about that so called 'angel'" she said rather determined. Heather looked at Stacy questioningly a moment, before she was interrupted by Tom. "Who is he?" he questioned looking over at the boy who had a bit childishly crossed his arms and turned in frustration, since Eddie refused to have an intelligent conversation. He just kept commenting on his accent and his appearance. Heather looked over at Tom, then back at the boy.

"He's… My savior…" she just said smiling at him warmly, her heart got a bit jumped by the blood still bubbling in her stomach. Tom looked at Heather a moment, noticing her smile and sent a slight look back at the boy. He wanted to go over and question the boy, just at least get the basic facts, but the boy just threw his hands into the air.

"Ok that's it, this is getting nowhere fecking fast!" he turned his head to Ashley. "Come now Ashley, We got work to do." He commented, before picking her up in one arm, almost as a father would his child. She seemed surprised by this as well, but he then walked over toward the maintenance ladder, placing the little girl on some of the steps and she seemed to realize what they were doing. Heather took a step forwards.

"Wait, where are you going?"

The boy turned to reply. "Higher up, I wanna get out of here as soon as possible, so Ashley and I have to press on." He said. Little Ashley looked down at the boy.

"B-but… The Ghostie?" she asked, quaking lightly. The boy padded the little one´s head.

"Don't worry Ash, Once we get that item, Ghostie won't be a Problem…" he said smiling at her. Tom Looked over at the company, "Item?" he questioned, but the boy took no notice. He was completely focused on Ashley looked away a moment, but then nodded, before crawling up the ladder, the boy was right behind her, causing the rest of the group to feel slightly abandoned. Eddie just shrugged his shoulders and followed after the two up the ladder. Tom Stepped forwards. "Hey! What are you three doing?"

Eddie looked down at Tom. "Well I'm Following the Funny Guy… If he is going to Loot the place, I'm not going to miss out on it." He said grinning. None could see, but the boy just rolled his eyes.

"Me and Ashley just need a specific Item, And we could not care for the rest then." He looked down at the group. "I recommend that you all go Home… Ghosts may be mainly harmless, but they can still shorten your life by a few years." He said, just following more after Ashley. Tom Glared at the three leaving the three others behind.

"Since when did you become an Expert on Ghosts?" he called after the three, but the boy Ignored him. Tom just seemed Rude, while Eddie just seemed stupid to him. The three got to the top floor where there was no doors to block for the Lift shaft. Heather walked over towards the Ladder, but Tom blocked her.

"And where do you think you're going?" he questioned. Heather just walked around him.

"I'm Thinking that I'm following them…" she just said.

"Why! There clearly is something trying to murder us in this building, and you just want to follow along with two strangers you have only just met?" Tom said glaring at Heather. She just turned and smiled. "I have met these two before… and wasn't it you guys who wanted an Adventure?" she said before climbing the ladder, with Stacy right behind her.

"I'm with you Girl!" She exclaimed in her usual cheering manner, leaving only Tom to be at the bottom of the shaft. He stood there a moment, tapping his foot while seeing the girls going up the ladder.

"Urgh… Wait for me!" he said before following after them. "Christ, this is like a bad Horror movie… 4 teenagers caught in an evil house-"

"I'm 20, For Your Information, So where I am from I have been a Legal adult for five years." The Boy commented from within the room. Tom just looked up baffled. He continued crawling up the ladder, until he got to the top, getting into the room that appeared, where the entire group was gathered, waiting for Tom. The boy was smiling at him. "Took you Long enough…" he said, before just turning to the room. "Well then!...

Alons-y!"


	7. Chapter 7  Group Up, Group Disbanded

The group now found themselves in a hallway, filled with doors of an old Victorian style. Long, decorative carpets and old looking lamps, gave the hallway an actual museum like feeling, however, one only needed to look around the corners to see the burns damage again. This place was just lucky to have been saved from the fire. The boy turned to the group and placed his hands in his sides.

"Right Then… I'm fairly certain you all know by now that we are up against a ghost, so I recommend that you stay behind and-" he stopped speaking as he noticed Eddie was just walking on ahead and looking into the first few rooms to find anything he could loot. The boy sighed.

"Never mind then…" the boy just said, looking down at Ashley. "Come now Ash… we need to find that Item…" he said, before walking towards one of the hallways. Ashley ran up beside him and took his hand, feeling a bit more comfortable like that. Heather and Stacy followed right behind, and Tom was once again torn, he could not just Leave Eddie Behind, but something about that boy was nagging him, and he did not like leaving the girls alone with him. Eddie was quickly back though and shrugged his shoulders.

"The place is empty, come on dude…" he just said, pulling Tom along behind the main group. The eerie voice was closer, and a few of the lights were going out, but for now there was no alarm among the group. Stacy even walked up besides the boy and smiled at him, reaching out her had. "I'm Stacy by the way… Thanks for Saving Heather"

The boy took her hand and waved the other one dismissively. "I'm Andreas and it was nothing… I did what any human should do…" he said calmly. Stacy raised an eyebrow a moment however as their hands parted. "Wow… you really should get some gloves for yourself, your Freezing" she commented. The boy just sent a look down to the little Pale Ashley, before just shrugging his shoulders. "Just a cold night…" he said, Ashley smiling innocently.

"Apart from that…. Andreaaas… Amdre-… Is that French?" Stacy asked, clearly not able to pronounce the name like he did.

"No It's Greek…" he just answered calmly as they turned a corner. Stacy then smiled.

"Oooo a Greek man… I hear they are quite well Hung…" she said winking at Heather. The boy was however the one reacting first.

"My Name Does not Define me, just because its Greek, does not mean that I am Greek." He just said trying to continue. He opened every door he came to, looking inside, trying to find anything, but all was either burnt, or just not anything that could have been of Value. Mattresses, cupboards, old laps and burnt out photos. Nothing that could be used for a real purpose. Stacy was shifting her weight back and forth a few moments before smiling greatly.

"Ok, I'll call you Andy then!" she just declared. The boy looked back and wanted to protest with 'that's not my name' but stopped himself. It might as well be true… 'Comrade Doctor' had died that night of the Trial, and he was all that was left behind in the Shell of a Ventrue. He Looked down at Ashley a moment and then back at Stacy.

"Andy it is then…" he just commented, before continuing on. Heather was not sure how to feel about her Friend being so Friendly with the one who made her Heart race so feverishly, still not knowing the true source of this, While Tom in the meantime was just glaring at him.

"So Andy, what are you doing here?" Ashley looked at Tom. "We here to Get thing for Auntie Therese" She just said. The boy nodded. "As Ashley said…" he just added, before turning another corner. Tom wanted to question some more, but Eddie suddenly shushed the group.

"Did ya hear that?" he asked, causing everyone to look around themselves. They could all hear the eerie voice again, but now it sounded like it was the one who was frightened. It was crying and sounding like it was fleeing in terror. Andy caught a small glimpse of something turning down the corridor, causing him to run a bit in its direction. The Group was right behind him. After a few turns, getting closer and closer to what seemed to be a woman fleeing in terror, they were put to a screeching halt as a pipe in one of the walls sprung, and strangely enough, sprung out of the walls, steam was shooting out of it, effectively creating a pipe shaped steam 'blocker' to cross the hallway. Andy and Ashley stopped immediately, such heats were not something their bodies did want near them at any time, the Humans knew not of their fear of this, but did stop as well.

"Woa… That was close…" Andy Commented, taking a few steps back. Eddie looked at Andy.

"What do you mean? This is easy to get under… What are you being a Chickin for Dude?" he asked, just easily crawling under the shooting stream of steam. Of course that's how he should be reacting, Andy thought, while Ashley was still a bit weary.

"That go Owie…" she just pointed out. Everyone was just looking at Eddie with Amazement. He was standing, grinning victoriously as he braved a bit more of the Hallway. But that was put to a painful halt as another Pipe broke, this time in the opposite wall, and it sent Eddie flying straight into the other wall, the steam causing him to yell out in pain, before curling up on the floor. "Eddie!" Stacy, Heather and Tom exclaimed unanimously. Andy saw Eddie Curled up, I have to do something, he thought but was only able to take a step forwards before he was overtaken by Little Ashley that almost rock star like, made a tiny Slide below both steam pipes, grapping around Eddie and dragged him a little away.

"You Ok Mister!" She asked. Eddie was grapping his face in pain, but gritted his teeth and looked at Ashley.

"I'm Fine!... That just fucking hurt…" he said, only to receive a little glare from the little girl on top of him. "Don't be a potty mouth!"

The rest of the group crawled under the bars of steam, and got on to the rest of the corridor. The Humans were all concerned for Eddie. Stacy was down touching the quite scolded part of Eddies face, asking him of what hurt and what didn't. Tom was complaining over Eddie, saying he was stupid for having walked into a load of steam, and Heather was just normally worried in the background. Andy had pulled Ashley away from the group a little bit and began walking ahead. Heather was quick to notice though. "Wait!" she called out, running up to the two.

"Aren't you going to wait for us?" she questioned. The boy looked over his shoulder a bit.

"I think the Ghost is trying to stop us in some sense… You guys are more fragile than us, so we should take the lead…" he just sad before walking on. Heather looked upon the boy leaving in confusion.

"More Fragile?" she questioned but the boy did not answer. He and Ashley would simply continue, leaving the group behind a corner for themselves.

Something was nagging Andy the entire way. He had noticed how the little Kindred were actually truly terrified of this place, but was only pressing on for the sake of not seeming weak.  
>'I never pressed my friends or allies into anything they were so uncomfortable with before…' he thought, it creating a small knob in his throat. This was not something he wanted. Suddenly though, it struck him. An Idea!<p>

He smiled down at the little kindred and knelt down a moment to the little one. "Ashley… How about we make this a little more Fun?" he asked the little girl, causing her to look curiously upon Andy.

"More Fun?" she questioned, in her usual childish voice. Andy nodded.

"Yes… I have a feeling that we soon will find what we need, and the ghost will most likely do something to hinder us… Or at least make it a bit harder." He said pointing down the corridor. "So how about we make this into a Competition?" he asked, the small kindred looking up with big eyes upon her guardian.

"A competition?"

"Yes, a Competition… The first person who finds the Item we need, wins a Big Prize!" he said, and the moment those words had left his mouth the small kindred Gasped.

"How Big!" she asked ecstatically. The boy then grinned.

"You Know the Toy store Downtown?" he questioned, and the little girl´s eyes only widened further. "The One with Two stories, huge toys and the biggest in the State!" she questioned in her childish voice. Andy was rather surprised that she knew all this but he smiled and nodded. "Yes… If you Win… I will give you pick a thing from in there… And there is no spending limit." He said smiling at the little kindred who just gasped and her face looked even more white than normal. Andy tilted his head a moment. "Ashley, you ok-"

"YOUR ON!" She said shaking his hand feverishly. Her shake so strong that Andy´s shoulder was forced to follow along and he was almost like a ragdoll for a few moments. He then laughed a bit and smiled. "Ok Then Ash… To our starting positions then." He said rising up again. They both walked to the invisible line between two lamps that still weren't broken on the walls and just waited there a moment. The boy smiled, happy that his plan worked. He then looked at the little Kindred. "On Go…. "

"Three…

Two-"

"ONE-GO!" The little kindred just yelled before setting off with almost the speed of a leopard. Andy stood baffled for a few precious moments before he sat off as well. His kindred speed amazed him but he decided to dwell on this later.

Ashley was way ahead of him, but he still had his eye on her. They kept running down the corridors for a little while that seemed to keep stretching on, and kept changing directions. The hallway ended and a big room came into view, with a hole into the ceiling, with several planks and supporter logs fallen down in the middle of the room. Ashley stopped at it a moment, giving Andreas the chance to catch up to her. He slowed down and stopped as well as he looked up. Before he was able to say anything however, Ashley just jumped up upon the fallen planks and supporter logs to come up one floor further. The boy raised an eyebrow at this. How come there was another floor but no way for the elevator to reach it. He then realized the little kindred was getting ahead of him. He placed his foot upon one of the supporter logs and set of, hitting the wall only to set off from there as well with a speed and elegance he had only been able to imagine a week ago. But now he was just jumping like a Ninja he thought. He came up, seeing the little kindred was about to leave the room already to continue on. The boy followed after but was halted a moment as suddenly, one side of the room sparked into a strange blue flame, setting a bed and some other furniture on fire. The boy looked at it a moment. It did not seem to spread so he pressed on. The little kindred would have to win this competition fair and square. He ran out through the same door, seeing the little kindred had stopped. The entire house seemed to rebel against their running, as now three places in the walls, Pipes had burst out, creating different heights and bars of Steam. The little kindred was able to crawl under, though the sudden fact of them appearing had slowed her down. Another thought struck the boys Mind.

"Well if Crispy was ever right, he is right now…" he said out loud before simply following up on something he hadn't thought of in a loooong time. He sprinted towards the bars of steam. Seemingly not going to stop and would run straight into the steam, but he then suddenly dropped to his knees and made a Power-slide under the tree pars, being exactly able to pass the little Ashley as she crawled. Their eyes met a moment and the boy winked grinningly at her.

"See you at the finish!" he said, the Competitive mood in him had sprung up and he continued his run. Ashley had a higher average speed than him, but he used the corners and strange blockings to his advantage. The two was almost side by side now. They turned a corner to see a crossroad. One way however was blocked off completely by fallen debris, and the strange blue flame erupted again. Both of them then took the other way but were stopped as there was a great gaping hole in the floor, and the mysterious blue flame erupted from below that as well. The boy stared at it a moment. Shit, this was quite a blocker, he thought.

"Well I guess we have to call off the com-" he was not able to say more before the image of his little Ashley simply Leaping over the great gaping hole appeared before him. The small kindred had taken a run up, and leapt for dear Un-Life. And it had worked.

She turned a moment, standing there In the light of the blue flame on the other side of this gaping hole; she then grinned and stuck her tongue out. "See ya at the finish!" She teasingly said with her childish glee.

"Ok that does it!" Andy grinned before taking a run up as well. 'This better work' he though before he sprinted towards the gaping hole. He sat off, the jump itself feeling like it took an eternity, with death looming below him and waiting like a small gate to hell. As his foot once again met wood and he tipped over, rolling forwards and ending on his back he just grinned madly.

"That was awesome!" he exclaimed before looking back at the hole. "Take that, Supernatural Physics!" he exclaimed in triumph before running in the same door, little Ashley had run in, only moments ago.

At that moment, things slowed down. The boy entered the room and halted in his steps, seeing that this room was… Fine?

It was not at all burnt. Indeed, it looked like it was brand new. The door behind him closed, and it also suddenly seemed like it was only just out of factory. The windows were still there, all the furniture looked fine without any traces of fire, and there were even a great painting on the wall. The boy looked around extremely confused. What on earth was going on? He questioned, and then finally took notice to Ashley who was on the other side of the room, just as confused as him. The boy stepped a bit forwards into the room, beginning to feel the softness of the bed and the fine feeling of the undamaged wood.

"This… Is strange…" He thought. This would not be possible. But the more he thought about it, the more the answer just became 'it's the ghost who did it'. Ashley was just as, if not more amazed, even though she had been in there longer than her guardian. She had walked around, feeling the different things as well and just was in awe of the nice room. It looked like the room of a princess and where she and her prince would stand and watch the moonlight together. Something then caught the little kindred´s eye. On a small table in the corner, there was a small necklace. It was not the most expensive of things, but it did look very pretty. It had a big blue gem in the middle and there were fine decorations in the metal surrounding the gem. The lace itself was decorated with pearls and just also seemed like the accessory of royalty like form the Fairytales. The boy was standing in the middle of the room and looked over at Ashley.

"What have you found?" he questioned taking a few steps over towards her but that was put to a halt. For the instant that Ashley picked up the necklace, everything in the room changed. It seemed it had all been an illusion, and this room was actually even worse off than the rest of the hotel. The entire outside wall was gone, and there was a complete and star filled sky night just being the best form of ceiling one could ask. Everything was charred however. Completely black and burned up or reduced to ash.

Then one point came into focus….

The Floor was gone as well. Only the place where Ashley were standing, there was actual floor, and the boy was standing in the middle of nothing. A moment the two exchanged looks and the boy just exclaimed. "Oh…. Bugger…." He said before gravity finally kicked in and he fell one story down, him landing directly upon his behind since he was not prepared for the floor dematerializing. Ashley looked upon the scene and just stared a few moments. Some few strangled giggled came before she burst fully into laughing. It had looked completely like a Cartoon, where people only fall the moment they notice they are not supported. She held her sided, still holding on to the necklace and rolled around on the floor laughing. Her laughter was so hysterical that one would fear that she would die from the lack of oxygen if she wasn't in the lucky position of not needing that particular atom in her bloodstream. Andy had simply fallen down and crashed to the floor as before. He slowly stood up and rubbed his behind a moment, just thinking what the hell was going on until he looked up hearing the feverish laughing from the small kindred. He crossed his arms a moment and wanted to look angry.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny…" he said but could not help but smile as he heard the small child laugh so happily. It was something he just loved to hear. But at the same time he looked up where the floor had been.

"If Fredrich could see this, his brain would be melting…" he just said, giggling for himself of this inside joke. Ashley slowly crawled to the edge of her floor and looked down. She was finally calming down and had gathered herself. She still had the necklace in hand as she jumped down landing neatly besides Andy. She looked up at him a moment. "Who is Fredwrich?" she questioned, but was absolutely in to capability to pronounce his name in the German fashion it was supposed to be. Andy just smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"And Old Friend of Mine… Man of Science…" he said calmly before uncrossing his arms and looked down smilingly at Ashley. "But it seems you got it…" he said looking at her. She looked at the Necklace a moment. "This?" She questioned, holding it up so the boy could see it. He gently picked it from her hand and nodded as he was examining it.

"Seems like that… There Ghost´s illusion disappeared as you picked it up, and remember what Therese Said… 'A personal item of the ghost can be used to drive its spirit away'" he said looking it over. Ashley processed the information. Her eyes then lit up.

"D-Does that mean we can go home! And Did I Win!" She asked him with her eyes almost sparkling. Andy smiled and nodded.

"Yes to both Accounts… We can go home, and you won fair and square." He then looked at the necklace. He cleared his throat a moment, and his overdramatic acting kicked in. "On behalf of the entire Judging panel of the Official C. Doctor Olympics, I bestow upon you this medal Of first place…" he said grinning, before he hung the necklace around the small kindred´s throat, who was still looking with large eyes upon Andy. She then cheered greatly and jumped up, spinning around in the air. "YUS!" She just exclaimed while cheering. The boy just smiled at this scene. It was times like this that prevented himself from just walking straight into the sunlight. He then took the little Kindred´s hand. "Now Ashley… Let's get the humans out of here before they notice anything weird about us…" he said, though Ashley was still too happy about his victory to listen. The two left the room, and looked around the corridors a little. They were back on the third floor, but there wasn't any sign of the humans. Andy scratched his chin a moment until Ashley pulled at his shirt a bit.

"They are downstairs…" she said, apparently her Gangrel nose had picked up their scent. They both went towards the elevator shaft, and slowly crawled down the ladder, and as they got another floor down, the scents were able to catch the nostrils of the boy as well. He smiled a bit. They Did smell quite lovely, but at the same time, it meant that they were smart enough to Leg it when their adversary was too great for them. Also, that burn on Eddie´s face did look pretty serious. Along with that, he had gotten his head smacked into a wall. Andy had almost forgotten how easily a person could be killed, now that he had survived much worse. They finally got off the ladder and stepped out on the first floor. The boy felt his chest a moment. He still remembered the night he had met Ashley, where she had saved him from a Crazy Sabbat, who had a knife lodged into his chest. Andy Shuddered a moment but decided to focus on the matters at hand. They saw the humans were on the way out of the Front Door. Stacy and Tom were supporting Eddie, who seemed more sloth like than before. That hit must truly have gotten to him after they left. Heather was still looking back into the hotel however. She seemed nervous or troubled. She was tapping her foot in worry and her eyes were shifting irregularly. Ashley were about to raise her voice to greet Heather, but Andy stopped her. He placed a finger over his mouth and shushed her smilingly. They both then looked over at the group. Tom looked back at Heather.

"Heather Come on! We gotta get Eddie out of here…" he called out at her. Heather turned her head to him.

"But… What about Andy and Ashley? They are still inside!" she said quite worried. Tom just waved a hand dismissively. "They said they could handle it! And it seemed they had some experience…" he said before letting Stacy take the weight of Eddie a moment. Tom skipped over to Heather. "We aint going to Leave you here… " he said before grapping her wrist, and almost forcefully pulled her out. She was protesting, but not as much as she would want. "But… but…"

"Heather! Just Come on… Get that Guy out of your Head…" he said while they all walked more and more away. Andy and Ashley were discretely sneaking after them, now that they left out through the still broken front door. They stopped in the middle of the tail out as Heather ripped her wrist free.

"Stop that Tom! What is it with you? Aren't you the one who usually recommends that we go in to make a daring salvation attempt?" She questioned. As Andy and Ashley snuck out past them and walked towards the manhole that had allowed them to enter, the discussion slowly began to fade, but it was still clear to hear their different voices, in this case Tom´s.

"I usually would! But something tells me those two are better off without us! Besides, I have a bad feeling about that guy…" he said looking away a moment. Andy sighed mentally. Would not be the first time that people had been recommended not to see him. But he was just happy he was able to discretely sneak out of this. He was already haunted enough by his decision to save Heather; he did not need her around him, to haunt him even further. Heather seemed to snap at Tom a bit.

"Bad Feeling! He saved my Life! Twice already! I can't just leave him in there! The ghost could still be in there!" she almost yelled at him, turning towards the hotel again. She stopped however as she heard the large clank of a manhole cover hitting the ground. She knew there was only one way TO the Hotel, at this time of night. A familiar shape then casually walked up upon a little pile of debris that the working crew most likely had removed days before. It was Andy? He was standing in the shine of the moon, with a calm smile on his face and his arms wide and open.

"Friends!..." he exclaimed with a grin. "Just as we Grouped up quickly… I hereby declare that the Group is Disbanded. We have No further Use for you, So…"

He turned and just smiled to himself. "Goodbye" He said and jumped off the debris. From the Human´s angle, it looked as if he had disappeared into the ground. What he really had done, was simply jump down from the debris and aimed for the manhole. At the bottom Ashley was already waiting, and after a casual smile exchanged between the two, they both left the scene. Leaving the Humans in knowledge that they had left, and so should they. They didn't see anything of them the rest of that night.

Andreas didn't want to waste any time. He took Ashley´s hand, and they ran towards "The Asylum". There was not much of the night left, but he would rather get this damn game of fetch over with now than later. They got to the shady nightclub and would walk to enter. As Andy reached for the door, he was stopped however. A huge man with a T-Shirt writing "Security" on it were blocking him. The boy mentally sighed. 'Oh Great… American Security…' he thought before crossing his arms and looked into the eyes of the almost bald mountain of flesh standing in his way. "Excuse me, but we have some business to attend to, so if you would kindly get out of the way?" he asked, tapping his foot slightly, not in the mood for slowing down. The bouncer was simply crossing his arms and returned a glare at Andy. "This Aint Europe Kid… You can't Just do whatever ya want ere… " he said, still blocking off for Andy.

"Yea I Know this isn't Europe you Muppet, but that does not change that I AM of legal Age in both this country and most others you could care to Mention, so would you kindly get your Sloppy Arse out of my feking way?" Andy said, strangely confident. He REALLY dint have much patience at the moment. The bouncer got a bit of a sterner look on his face and gave Andy a light push on the shoulder. "Don't be so cocky Kid… I'm going to need some ID for that… and your Little Friend will have to wait Outside."

Andy threw his hands up in the air a moment. "Why this is just feking great… And by the way, where were you earlier this night? We were just able to walse in there…" he said but the guard just interrupted him.

"That's not important… ID, Now… Or I will have to throw you off the property…"

This time, Andy just rubbed his temples and lowered his head in frustration. His ID was back in his wallet could not be used, or people might find out that he was still alive, and his other wallet was the property of Rose… And NO matter how stupid this guard was, he would still be able to tell the difference between Rose and him. Or Could he?

The Idea struck him and he got a little smirk on his face without thinking. He pulled out Rose´s wallet and found her driver's license, handing it to the bouncer. He looked at it a moment then at Andy as if he was insane. "Seriously….?" He just asked, looking sternly at him however Andy just kept his smirk and walked up to the side of him, once again, trying to Focus his mind and let the words escape him.

"**Can't you see? That is a Picture of me! It's just a few years old…" **

A few moments later, the bouncer seemed hypnotized. He looked at the ID again, and handed it back to Andy. "Sorry I was rude before… Gotta make sure those kids stay out… But I expect you can keep an eye on your little one…" He said, causing Andy just to smile casually. "Don't worry, we won't be long…" he said before turning to the small kindred that had entertained herself in the meantime with looking at the necklace. "Come Ashley… Let's give that thing to Auntie Therese…" he said before taking her hand and they both entered the Club.

One short elevator ride later and the two were back into the office where they had met Therese earlier. However the boy mentally sighed again as he noticed Therese was not here, but Jeanette was. Her smirk was immediate, and her voice painfully reached Andy´s eardrums.

"How odd, I was just having naughty thoughts about you. You made quite an impression earlier. Did you come up just to cheer lonely, little me?" she asked, the seductive tone hanging in her voice like a bad smell. The boy just crossed his arms.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, Sexy, but we only came here to Hand something over to your Sister. So if you would kindly tell us where she is?" Andy Replied while rolling his eyes. Jeanette simply grinned as she replied.

"Oh Therese is out at the moment… But she told me you might stop by… I can just hold on to that for you." She said, holding out her hand. However, neither Andy nor Ashley was moving at all. Jeanette tilted her head a moment.

"This is for Auntie Therese… Not for you Auntie Jeanette" Ashley simply said and despite her childish voice, one could hear she was serious. Andy just nodded in agreement to the little one. Jeanette looked at them a moment. Her face turned into a complete frown, and almost theatrically, she was able to change from seductively cheery, to Medina style tragic sadness.

"I'm Not just some silly doll, you know. All my life my sister has made me out to be a joke. She told you I was an embarrassment didn't she? That I couldn't tie my shoes, let alone hold onto something for her. Is that it?" she called out at the two in sadness. Andy just shook his head however.

"You have good theatrical skills Jeanette, but I make a policy out of NOT handing over things to people without specific instructions… One never knows what might happen." He said as a matter of fact. Ashley looked up at him a moment questioningly, but then returned her eyes to Jeanette. Andy had seen his fair shares of shady deals it seemed. Jeanette just continued.

"She is always belittling me. She's the smart one, she's the favorite, she's the successful one. Well it's not Fair! I'm not a Fool! This clubs success is just as much my doing as hers!" she cried her heart out. She truly sounded like she wanted to cry, despite the fact that there were no tears. Andy kept his arms crossed. "Jeanette… you should not be pouring this out upon me… you should be pouring it out upon your Sister…" he tried to explain to her, but Jeanette continued.

"Do you understand what it is like to have your own flesh and blood ripping you apart on a daily basis for two lifetimes? Can you?"

Andy sighed a moment and then walked closer to Jeanette. He placed a hand on her shoulder, and lifted up her head, looking into her eyes. "I feel your Pain Ok? But I can't give you the necklace. It isn't For you." He said his voice actually sympathetic for Jeanette for once.

Then strangely enough, it happened. As Andy had predicted, Jeanette turned a leaf within an instant, and looked her usual confident self. She huffed a moment.

"Fine. You hold on to it…" She said, almost crossing her arms. Andy mentally sighed. To think that he even considered showing sympathy to a great actor. He then let go of her shoulder and turned to leave, until he felt a hand upon his own shoulder, and Jeanette´s voice purred.

"Hmmm… Since you were so willing to brave that big, spooky place for my darling sister…" she then let her finger trace around in a circle on his shoulder. "How about doing a teensy, tiny favor for little, troubled me?" she asked, her voice purring like a kitten, and her seductive voice doing the best she could to soothe up Andy.

A few precious moments would pass, until Andy turned his head and grinned.

"How about… No?" he said, before simply walking out of Jeanette´s grasp. She crossed her arms and turned her head, clearly insulted. "Fine…. Be Like that…"

Ash smiled as she saw Andy come towards her. He took her hand and the two left the room. As they both were in the elevator, he looked down upon her with a broad smile.

"So Ash… How about We go get a good Meal, a nice bit of sleep, and then we will go and buy your prize first thing tomorrow?"

"YAY!" The tiny kindred exclaimed and hugged around her Guardian. Andy just smiled and returned the hug.

This night had been a long and troubling one. But they were now one step closer to getting off the marionette strings. Closer to be free.


	8. Chapter 8 Past, Present and the Future

The sun was shining and Los Angeles seemed livelier than ever. People were getting off to their jobs, out to the beaches, off to their lovers, out shopping and just doing all their normal activities. Everyone out now was human, and no one would have to fear for "The boogieman" or something to jump out of the shadows to get them. Everything was back to its lovely amazing American Dream.

Or so it was for some.

Down at a certain basketball court there were a group of people. Some were sitting on a bench; others were over at the court actually playing basketball. The people playing seemed to have fun and were smiling. The group was a variant bunch, both varying in race and clothing types. There was an almost bald, dark blond, white boy at most 19 years of age, wearing a Fidel Castro style army cap, sitting in the middle, his clothes were beyond that normal, A T-Shirt and some Jeans that each seemed to have been used frequently. Next to him was a longer haired friend who had the same clothing style but enjoyed having fingerless biker gloves, his a bit taller and heavier body type were distinguishing him as a muscle, in the eyes of the ignorant. However he was much more than that. Next to them sat a woman of completely dark and curly hair, seeming a bit older, perhaps 23 of a more darker skin color, most likely of Spanish or south American origin, wearing a big warm coat over a normal set of clothes. All of them seemed to be waiting for someone, and that someone came. A man, also about the age of 20 walked towards the group, he was wearing a big polyester coat and a small black hat. He had a bit of subtleties of a black beard, along with a nice pair of spectacles. The group almost instantly rose up as they saw their hat wearing friend.

"So… What did you find out?" the almost bald boy asked, though everyone was looking at their Hat wearing friend expectantly. He sighed though, his hands still in his pockets while making a small shrug.

"No One has Seen him, Or Rose since the two left on their Date… I tried knocking on her apartment, but it just looks neat and tidy… as if nothing had happened." He explained. The long haired big fellow rubbed his chin a moment.

"But we know the two Left on a date right? So how come no one has seen them?" he questioned. The hat simply shrugged again.

"I have No idea… Though I think we can safely say…" he looked around on the group. "Our Comrade Doctor is Missing."

The almost bald one slammed his fist into the table in frustration. "Fuck!" He exclaimed before sitting down. The woman besides him placed a hand on his Shoulder and looked at him softly.

"Red, calm down… I'm sure the two of them just have… Forgotten the time or something… You saw the spark in Andreas´s eyes when he was with Rose. He is most likely taking her out to a romantic place." She said reassuringly. But the hat wearing one looked over at the girl.

"For three days straight?" he said questioningly. The girl looked down a moment but Red raised his head.

"Psyco is right… Something just doesn't add up here…" he said before rising up. He looked over at the long haired one. "Mike… I need you to Help Psyco searching some of the places they might have gone… Restaurants, sightseeing, anywhere…" he then looked over at the girl. "Samantha… I know you are looking for that girl, but would you Please, try and see if you could find Doctor as well?" he asked her almost pleadingly. She nodded her head in confirmation.

"I will see what I Can do…"

Red then turned his head to the ones playing basket.

"You guys are with me! If we don't find him within the next few days… I'm going to kill that son of a bitch…"

Darkness had fallen once again, and as the doors to the great Toy store, the small kindred had completely lost all words. She was standing there baffled as the great possibilities were laid out before her. Andy was smiling as he gently nudged Ashley forwards.

"Come on Ash, look around." He said smilingly at the little one. She then just, got back all her energy and sped off into the store. She was of course careful not to use her kindred speed, but she did make it off rather fast, just looking over all the toys in this tiny section of the store. The First part they had gotten into was a rather girly area. It was filled with dress up dolls, baby dolls, pink dresses and stuff like that. Ashley was exited to look it over, but she didn't even seem to give it a second thought as she looked at each of them. She just, quickly moved on to the next section. Andy followed behind, giving the few other customers a few looks. His nose was getting stronger and stronger, so everyone in here, smelled like a potential dinner plate. It was not something he was comfortable with, but he tried to move on.

Next section was filled with more boy toys. Action figures, small castles, toy swords, toy guns and things of the sort. Ash did stay a little longer here, which caused Andreas to giggle slightly. He did know that Ashley weren't the typical girl, but she did seem to like things like toy swords a bit better than dress up dolls. In the end though, it was just another section, Nothing that she was fully and thoroughly interested in. Ashley continued on, and this section got another look from Andy. He had loved sections like this when he was little. But much like Ash, it was only a Love of 'oh that's cool' but not really as much as something he would really want.

The next section was actually separated in two. One side, filled with shelves with LEGO and other building toys, while the other side were filled with Plushies. Andy did for once not notice what Ash was doing and looked over at the LEGO section. So much of it seemed like things from his childhood, either it was resells, or it was remaking of old products. He smiled a bit as he could recognize several brands, and just were able to see images of himself, sitting in the middle of his room, playing with LEGO bricks all day; Making everything from castles, to enchanted forests, all with the small colored bricks. He felt a small thug at his shirt though and looked down. Ashley stood there and held up a small gray and white wolf Plushie. It was a cute little toy that was designed with stuffing in its head and paws, while in its body where small plastic spheres to make sure that the animal could be hugged, bended and otherwise done with as the child pleased, without the risk of it breaking. Its gray and white fur was both made from soft fabrics, and the head specifically felt like it was made from silk. Andy liked it and so it seemed that Ashley did. She had this Enormous, ecstatic grin on her face.

"This one!" she exclaimed happily. Andy smiled down at Ashley.

"Why it's really cute Ash." He said while looking it over. He then saw the price tag. Only 6.99. He then looked down at Ash. "It's Really nice, but are you sure you want this?" he asked, kneeling down to look her in the eyes at her level. "I told you there was no spending limit to your Prize." Ashley just nodded ecstatically.

"I want That Mister Wolfie!" She said, taking it out of Andy´s hands again and hugged it tightly. It was luckily made of some rather sturdy materials, so even her vicious death hugs would not tear up the fabric. The boy took a few moments to look at Ashley. It was rather a meager present to want. But then… It wasn't his decision. He smiled and picked up the little kindred, along with her Plushie.

"Ok then Ash… Let's go and pay for it then, then Mister Wolfie can officially be yours." He said smiling.

After a bit of usual annoying cueing, they finally got to the casher. She was just an average brown-haired teenage girl, who most likely chooses this hour of work because nobody else wants the job. A certain glimmer appeared in her eyes however as finally the customers came, in this case being Ash and Andy. The boy caught the casher eyeing him up a moment, but he took no more notice of it. He smiled politely as when he bought anything else.

"Good evening." Was exchanged, and the little wolf came up to the scanner.

"That will be 6.99." said the casher, hoping to have that good attitude in front of the customers, but it was still late at night, so she would just smile faintly. Andy nodded lightly and pulled out the black wallet from his pocket. Since yesterday he had merged his and Rose´s wallet, it now having both their ID´s and both Their MasterCard's. It might not be the best strategy, when it came to staying "Dead" but it was the most practical. A few moments passed where he was standing and fiddling with his wallet, before he pulled out his own MasterCard. He knew the combination was 9399, but he knew he had to slowly erase his own traces, or else the Camarilla would most likely Kill him… And perhaps the others.

A knot tied itself in his throat as he thought of the group. For all they knew he was just gone. How would they react when they knew he was Dead? And what if they found him while he was supposed to be dead?

"Sir… Sir… Sir!"

Andy snapped out of his thoughts.

"Oh! Uhm… Apologies" he said, once again fiddling with the card, before putting it in the machine. He pushed in a combination and the machine beeped, wrong one. The Casher looked at him a bit confused. Andy was as always a good actor and just, acted just as surprised as she was.

"Huh… I'll try again…" he said before typing in another combination. Once again, wrong one.

"Sir, Are you sure that's your Credit Card?" the woman asked him, giving him a serious look. Andy just smiled though.

"I am completely sure." He said before finally typing in the combination. 'Success' the machine wrote, and the small animal was now paid for. The casher just shook her head lightly.

"Try and remember your code next time… You almost blocked your own card…" she said, reaching her hand over, offering The boy the receipt

'That was kind of the point' Andy thought but just smiled at her, before taking the receipt and the plushie.

"Have a good one…" he said to her, before he turned his head down to look at the little Ashley who was smiling brightly, and reaching out her hands, almost yearning already for the little plushie. The two moved out of the way, so the cue could commence, but then Andy kneelt down. He looked at Ashley smiling, holding the small toy.

"I… Andy Doctor hereby declare Ashley…" he stopped a moment, realizing he did not know her last name, but Ashley easily picked up what he tried to find out.

"Macmillan"

"-Ashley Macmillan" Andy continued. "To be the victor, Of the great Haunted house Race, which, as we all saw, was the most important race in history!" he said, his voice almost sounding like an announcer. It made the little kindred Giggle, but she also stood rather proud about her achievement. Andy then smiled and handed over the Plushie.

"I hereby present you… Mister Wolfie… your Eternal Guardian."

Ashley graciously accepted the toy. She took a few seconds to look at it before her grin grew almost from ear to ear. Her arms put themselves around the plushie and hugged it like no piece of fabric had ever being hugged before. The small pieces of fabric fought bravely and stood fast against this onslaught from the young kindred. She just giggled and smiled.

"THANK YOU!" She exclaimed in her childish voice. Andy could not help but smile.

"You're Welcome Ash…" he said, kneeling down and gently placing his hand upon the little kindred´s head. "You are ever so welcome…"

Sadly, this could not continue. The two had important matters to deal with. Andy slowly rose up and reached out his hand, offering it to Ash.

"Come now Ash… We got to deliver the Necklace to auntie Therese."

Ash nodded smilingly, and took his hand, while still hugging around the little wolf plushie.

The two walked out of the toy store and out on the busy street. They had walked quite a while to get there, so they would most likely just have to go straight home and get the necklace, before getting it to Therese.

On the way home, Ash then pulled Andy's hand a moment, signaling for him to stop. The boy looked down at the little Kindred.

"What is it?"

Ash then pointed into the alley, in the vague direction of a woman. A woman, most likely in her 30es, was sitting half passed out up one of the walls. The stench of alcohol was hanging heavily in the air, and one needed not to have Kindred senses in order to realize that she was completely pissed. Andy looked down at Ash.  
>"Are you hungry?" he asked. She shook her head however.<p>

"Aren't you hungry?" She asked, looking up at Andy, still hugging the little plushie. Andy was a bit taken aback a moment but then just smiled, shaking his head.

"Oh… No, I am fine… I will get some later…" he just said trying to shrug the subject off. However he could not deny that his senses were tingling at the chance to get some more blood. Ash then just stopped him by standing in front of him.

"No!" she said firmly. "Not later! You should get some now! You promised you would not do something that stupid again!" She said standing there, looking like a strict (and very tiny) mother. Andy could not help but smile at the little one. He sighed and gave her a light pat on the head.

"How can I ever Say No to you Ash?" he said then smiled. "Ok then… But then we go straight to auntie Therese right?"

"Right!" She said raising up one hand, smiling.

Andy gave a light nod, before turning to go down the alley. He ended up standing in front of the almost passed out woman. A small knot had formed in his throat again. He closed his eyes a moment. His human morals were still in play, and they were really hard to silence, even for a little while. He then knelt down, gently moving a bit of the woman´s messy dark blonde hair out of the way. She had quite a lot of makeup on her face, and was dressed strangely lightly. Her scent however gave off the info that she wasn't of a bad environment. She truly smelled terrific once one got past the alcohol. Andy slowly moved closer, his mouth opening up instinctively and his fangs bared themselves. Small moans escaped the woman's lips as she seemed to be waking up slightly. Andy hesitated a moment as her eyes slowly opened. If she had been sober she would be able to have seen his fangs. But she was too affected by alcohol to actually react upon it immediately. Then just a certain thing came up into Andy. His lips formed more into a smirk. He gently moved some of the woman´s hair away again.

"Please… Relax… I think you fell on something…" he said as a ruse, while moving closer to the woman. She blinked slightly a moment, and slurrishing said.

"Wh…What… Are you… Who… I have No cash…"

Andy then just smiled, his mouth opening again and his fangs exposing.

"I need no cash from you…" he said before then just, moving into a form of embrace around the woman. Her neck completely exposed, and open for him to use. He slowly lowered his head and sunk his fangs into the soft human skin, puncturing both that and one of the arteries. The red lovely liquid began filling his mouth and glided down his throat as it had done many times before by now, but this time it seemed more calm. He had usually been violent, or had just jumped scum to drink their blood. But this… This was more of a gentle exchange. After a good few moments of drinking, he released his fangs from the poor womans Skin and he gently licked the wounded area. Unconsciously he was licking his lips and teeth as he moved away from her again, and gently helped the woman back upon her feet, making it all seem as if he was helping her get up.

"There you go… you really should go home… You never know what might happen to you…" he said, helping her stabilize. The woman blinked a few moments, just unsure of what was going on or what had happened this or the last night. She waved a hand dismissively.

"No need for you to help…." She just said, taking a few steps on her own. "I… am on my way home… now…" She just said, before walking away. Ash was standing at the end of the alley, just smiling at Andy as he was nice enough to do as she asked him.

"Ok Ash… I'm fed… Now let's get to Auntie Therese."

"Yus!"

The short stop to the apartment was made without much of a fuss, and the same was to be said about The Asylum. The amount of visitors didn't seem to have changed much, nor did the form of visitors change at all. Andy was not one to point out dodgy types, but sometimes he did feel a bit out of place, despite his fundamental belief in equality. The bodyguard was there again, but he recognized Andy clearly, and let the two through without much of a fuss. It seemed that his words were still burning into the Humans mind.

The two entered, and took not much notice of the club itself, simply wishing to move on and into the elevator. Finally they had gotten to the door into the office, and Andy was smiling brightly. When this thing was handed in, they were a Firm step closer to cutting the ropes. The door opened, and the office came into view. Therese was sitting in the same attire as the night before, but her hair seemed a bit more unruly. She was at the desk with an evil scowl painted upon her face, and a dead like glare met Andy as the two entered the room.

"You!" Therese said as if cursing someone to hell, and rose from her Chair. Andy was rather surprised by the reaction, but did not really have time to do much.

"Wh-"

"What were you Thinking! That museum was My event! Mine!" Therese snapped at Andy. Ashley actually got slightly scared of the aggression of Therese and hid, with the medallion behind Andy´s leg. Andy immediately went into a mental defense.

"What are you Talking about? I haven't done anything to a-"

"Don't Try and deny it!" Therese snipingly interrupted Andy. "Jeanette already told me how she tricked you to do her dirty work and Slice up those paintings! I thought you at least had some decency, but it seems my Whore of a sister has corrupted you too!" She cursed out, Fury and hatred filling her voice to its very core, but instead of getting scared, Andy more got offended. He was about to say something, but then Little Ashley stepped right in front of him, her face also very angry.

"Mister Andreas Didn't Do ANYTHING Wrong!" She snapped at Therese, despite her childish voice, it was easy to hear her scolding tone. "He went home with Me after Auntie Jeanette tried to get your Present Auntie Therese!" She then took the necklace off her throat and held it out to show Therese. "Now stop Being Mean you…. Meanie!" she called out, in the end, missing the right words.

Therese stared at the little girl a moment, then her eyes turned to the Necklace and she rather aggressively, yanked the necklace from Ashley´s hands.

"Fine… I will believe you two… you have shown yourself to be more resourceful and more smart than following her ideas… Well, I will need you two to do something for me then…" This was the point when Andy broke in.

"Oi Oi Oi, Time out…" he said, his European accent shining through here. "You said Yesterday that you Only needed us to do That task to call off the Feud… We have done that task now, yet you are asking us to do more? You are breaking your end of the deal!" he said firmly, his temper slowly rising. He never liked it when someone broke promises. Therese walked over to the desk and placed down the necklace, before sending a glare back at Andy.

"I might call off the feud Now, but there is no way that Tung will believe me… Not after what I did…"

Andy raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"What did you do?"

Therese crossed her arms slightly and sat down into her office chair.  
>"I made some threats against my sister… Empty Threats… The kind you throw around when you are angry. But Jeanette took them seriously, and now she is refusing to talk to me… She knows where Tung is, and if he hears I have threatened my sister, There is no way he is coming out of hiding." She slowly stated. Andy threw his hands up in the air.<p>

"Why that is just Fecking Great…" he exclaimed. Ashley walked up besides the desk, her small stature just able to keep her eyes above the desk and look up at Therese.

"So You want us to Talk to Auntie Jeanette?" She asked, looking up at Therese with her innocent Look. Therese simply nodded.

"Yes… I want you to meet with her… Let her understand that I don't mean to Kill her… That It was a fit of anger, Nothing more." She said, readjusting her clothes slightly before looking over at Andy who looked like a man who wanted to break something but just couldn't. After a few moments with the two staring at each other, Andy finally dropped his head and sighed.

"Where can we find her?" he said rather defeated.

"In the Seaside Diner, It is across the street to the Asylum, easy to spot. Once you get in, go down to the payphones at the far end of the Diner, Jeanette will meet you there."

Andy did not want to question any further and just went "Fine…" his voice a bit frustrated. He walked over and took the little Kindred´s hand. "Come Then Ash, the quicker we talk to Jeanette, the quicker we are out of here…" He said before just beginning to walk to leave the office, Ashley sort of dragged along without much protest from her side. She was polite enough though to just wave at Therese before the door closed.

Therese was once again left alone in her office, simply sitting on the office chair, leaning back. She folded her hands together and turned the chair around slightly. A faintly evil smirk appeared on her lips.

"That is one down… Now I'm coming for you Jeanette…"

The two kindred walked out of the club and headed straight for the diner, which was easy considering its close location. It was not a beautiful sight, it looked like a diner, clearly inspired by the 50es. It had huge open windows, they could already see from outside that most of the furniture was either bright light or redish colored and above the door was an average sized neon sign saying "_Surfside Diner". _Andy stopped up outside the diner a moment. He looked back at the little kindred, who was still holding on to 'Mister Wolfie' and smiled at her.

"Would you mind waiting out here with Mister Wolfie?"

Ashley looked a bit confused up at Andy.

"Why? If auntie Jeanette is Sad, I should cheer her up!" She said firmly, but happily. Andy smiled at her goodwill but shook his head.

"No, Not at first… I want to talk with auntie Jeanette first… Also, I need someone strong to be the outpost guard" he said as if this 'position' was a most prestigious one. Ashley´s eyes lit up slightly, astonished at this new title.

"Whats an Outpost guard?" she asked astonished.

"Why and Outpost guard… It's the most important guard In many places. They are the ones telling if there comes any baddies after the main force, Which would be me." He said smiling. "Without these guards, The main force, Me, Could be taken completely by surprise and annihilated." He explained with a form of childish tone about it. Ashley looked really interested at this. An Outpost guard sounded cool.

"So… Will you be My Outpost Guard?" Andy asked. "I will just talk with Auntie Jeanette first, and then you can come in after, alright?" he asked reaching out his hand, offering a handshake. He was barely able to question either or not his ruse had worked before his hand was violently shaken, like only Little Ashley could shake his hand.

"I WILL!" She said very Determined. "ME AND MISTER WOLFIE WILL SCARE AWAY ANY BADDIES!" She proudly announced.

"That's great!" Andy smiled. "Now just stay there… I will be with you in just a minute." He said before walking into the diner.

It was as one would expect inside a diner of this inspiration. A big counter lined up the wall, leading into the kitchen, while the tables and windows were all the way along with the windows. However at one end, here were a bunch of payphones, and at the other end, there was a vending machine, which seemed to be rather occupied, judging from the large amount of people there. There was no less than four people by that vending Machine. They all looked like punks at first, but Andy shook his head, never wanting to judge someone from their looks. He knew he himself looked like a strange hippie if he let his hair go loose, and he was anything but a hippie (In his own opinion that is). Behind the counter were two elderly people, one working as the Casher, and the other, presumably being the chef taking a break. Andy then looked down by the payphones. One thing confused him. Jeanette wasn't there. He looked around the place, seeing no one beyond the humans around.

"What the trollops?" he said lowly (A strange phrase, but his way of swearing had deteriorated rapidly since he met Ashley), before he casually walked towards the Payphones. He reached the machines, slowly beginning to inspect them, thinking there must be some kind of… Clue, Or message or something Jeanette had left. There Had to be-…

Or did there.

The thought just struck Andy, and his paranoid mind got at work again. What if this wasn't a mistake. But it was more…

"A Trap" he said out loud before turning his head, seeing up in the diner again that the elderly personnel had ducked for cover, and all the supposed punks had armed themselves. One was with a Shotgun, and the rest was with some low class revolvers.

"Ahhhh Muck…" he just said before feeling the excruciating pain of being shot in the shoulder. Punk in front, Who was carrying a Revolver, had taken a shot and hit, very precisely, Andy in the center left shoulder. He crashed to the floor, looking over at the punks who opened fire after him. Several bullets flew by Andy, way too close for comfort. The young boy almost threw himself forwards, into cover behind the counter, his back pressed against it and he actually began breathing, as a reflex of light fear.

"Why this could have gone much better" He muttered to himself, feeling his shoulder a moment. The bullet had gone right through, and since he fed earlier the night, it did not take much for it to slowly close up. But that did not help with the immediate problem of the four gun wielding punks. Andy peeked around the corner slightly, only to yank his head back again, as the corner got hit by another bullet, and several more sounded, hitting around the counter that Andy was hiding behind. The info he was able to get however was that two of the baddies were slowly walking towards his cover. The guy in the front had a Pistol, and the guy behind him had a Shotgun. Jacks words could be heard as if he had heard it a million times 'A shotgun blast to the head, That's trouble'. Andy tried to go through the scene in his mind. He had a few moments more before the baddies would reach him.

Two were towards him, and one of them had a shotgun. Two others would then be in the background and would be able to put suppressive fire down upon him. He knew he was able to handle the revolver bullets, but the shotgun was another tale. If he ran out and charged the front guy, then he would get hit by the shotgun. If he tried to charge through the front guy, he would still get hit by the shotgun. If he tried to vault over the counter to flank them both, he would still end up with a broken fruit bowl for a head.

I need some kind of distraction! He came to realize. But what? He asked, once again peaking around the corner. The two were less than a meter away from him now. This would not end well!

Suddenly the crashing sound of glass being broken could be heard, and all the goons turned. Because Inside the Window, Came a tiny monster.

Ashley MacMillan.

She had with her full speed, made a run-up outside the diner and jumped through the window, with the greatest kindred and child rage and had jumped the furthest away punk. She had jumped upon his back, putting her arms and legs around him, before jamming her Fangs into the clueless humans throat. He screamed out in great pain and terror, as he began desperately trying to throw off the tiny Kindred, but it was to no avail, her grip was way too tight, as well was her bite. A small smile appeared on the Boys face. 'Just what I needed' he thought and grabbed one of the diner chairs with his own strength. He rose up, and quickly tossed it directly at the two punks in front of him. The front guy was just able to see the chair fly at him and ducked, but the shotgun wielder was too late, and got the diner char smacked straight in the face, sending him crashing to the floor. Just as the man in front was able to raise his head again, Andy was in front of him and grabbed him by the wrist of the arm he held the gun with. He squeezed it with crushing strength, and a small crack could actually be heard in the man's wrist, and he cried out in pain.

"argh Fuck dude!" he cried out. He was not able to react further before Andy grabbed around the gun in his hand, and yanked it from him. He then looked up, still holding the poor sods wrist, and aimed for the third man. The third man had turned towards Ashley and was about to pull the trigger to shoot at her. Ashley was still on the furthest away punk and was draining his, soon to be corpse of any sustenance in from of blood. Andy was quicker, and shot at the goon, luckily hitting him through the side of the arm, into the shoulder and ended up ruining several of his vital organs, causing the baddie to collapse. His eyes now turned to the guy with the shotgun. He was trying to reach for his weapon, while bleeding heavily form the head after getting a chair thrown at him with supernatural strength. Andy didn't really know why he did this, but he reacted upon a seemingly survival instinct, and pulled the trigger again. He hit the man directly through the throat. He could be heard gargling on his own blood that was getting into his lungs and how the arteries were slowly killing him.

Ashley finally released the poor human of whom she fed upon. She looked up with bloody red eyes and a face that looked like devil incarnate for any more bad buys, but she then realized the only bad guy left was the one Andy was holding. She calmed down and ran over to him, hugging him around the Legs.

"ARE YOU OKEY!" she asked loudly. Andy smiled down at the little kindred, patting her head with the hand he held the gun in.

"I'm Fine Ash… Just Pissed is all" he said smiling warmly at the child before his eyes turned into a deep glare towards the poor sod he was still keeping in some form of arm lock of pain. He cocked the revolver and pointed it down towards him. "Now… Since we all are talking like adults again, I would like for you to Kindly explain to me, as to why, you decided to open fire towards me." He said, sounding strangely sophisticated. It was mainly a mocking of The poor sod, but at the same time Andy was angry. The man, looked painfully up at Andy.

"I-I-I Don't know Nuttin!" He tried to say. "We were just paid-" he then screamed out in pain as Andy squeezed his arm again.

"By Who?" he asked sternly.

Suddenly the sound of a payphone ringing could be heard in the room, both Andy and Ashley looked back at the phone curiously.

"Ashley could you take that?" he questioned before looking back at The poor sod. "What is your name Friend?"

"Why do you want to kno-AOUHGN" he once again yelled out in pain as his already broken wrist got crushed even further.

"What is Your Name?" Andy repeated the question.

"R-R-Rick!"he was able to force out between exclamations of pain and suffering. He then felt a huge relief as Andy let go of his wrist, causing him to fall to his knees, clutching his arm in pain.

"Now Rick… Let me tell you something… You have two options…" he said, kneeling down and lifted up the poor Rick´s head to look him in the eyes. "Option One… You Piss off, and do not say anything about this, thus living happily ever after." He said smiling. "Option two… you piss off and do tell someone about it, but then you will wake up one day, tied to a table and I will be standing above you with a Scalpel and No annestetic… There are more than one Reason Why I am Doctor." He said grinning evilly.

Rick looked back into the eyes of this, in his eyes, Complete maniac and nodded. "Ill take Option one!" he just said before running as fast as he could out of the diner, not stopping for the life of him. Andy Smiled as he left.

"Good Lad." He said before rising up.

"Hey Mister Andreas!" Ashley called after him. Andy turned around and looked at The Little Kindred who was holding the phone. "It's Auntie Therese, She wants to talk to you…" Andy´s face turned stern. He, still holding the pistol, walked over to the little kindred and accepted the phone.

"Yes? I would care for an explanation…." Andy said, his voice as stern as his look. Therese seemed in no way affected of anything as she replied.

"I am Sorry, Jeanette was so angry that you didn't want to help her with the museum and send those thugs to kill you…" Andy wanted to stop up Therese, Demanding a better explaination than this, but stopped as he heard Therese´s voice become darker and sterner. "Don't worry about it, I will make sure she don't do it again". Before Andy was able to say anything, He heard a frightened Jeanette call out in the background.

"SHE IS GOING TO KILL ME!" she cried out for help.

"Hey! Wait a-" Beep, beep, beep. Nothing. Andy Slammed down the phone and slammed his hand into the wall in frustration. Ashley looked up rather confused at Andy as he then checked the revolver. "Two bullets Left… Fitting…" he closed up the compartment in the revolver and looked down at Ashley. "Come on Ash… It's On Now…"


End file.
